Branched-chain amino acid treatment before transcatheter arterial chemoembolization for hepatocellular carcinoma

Table 1 Baseline characteristics of study groups (mean ± SD)

	BCAA group (n = 40)	Control group (n = 59)	P value
Gender
Male	27	32	0.215
Female	13	27
Age (yr)	69.9 ± 8.8	73.2 ± 10.1	0.092
Etiology of liver disease
Chronic hepatitis C	28	43	0.287
Chronic hepatitis B	2	8
Non B non C	10	10
Child-Pugh classification
Chronic hepatitis	0	9	0.006
Child-Pugh A	22	39
Child-Pugh B	15	10
Child-Pugh C	3	1
WBC (× 103/μL)	38.2 ± 10.8	44.7 ± 16.0	0.082
Hb (g/dL)	11.9 ± 1.8	12.5 ± 1.7	0.091
Platelet (×104/mm3)	10.2 ± 9.4	11.4 ± 4.9	0.431
Alb (g/dL)	3.32 ± 0.50	3.74 ± 0.51	< 0.001
T-Bil (mg/dL)	1.28 ± 0.81	1.05 ± 0.63	0.123
PT (%)	77.5 ± 14.1	85.9 ± 17.3	0.012
AST (IU/L)	65.8 ± 39.6	73.8 ± 56.4	0.445
ALT (IU/L)	48.0 ± 38.8	54.2 ± 39.0	0.438
AFP (ng/mL)	626.1 ± 2009.8	1109.2 ± 2652.5	0.331
PIVKAII (mAU/mL)	1471.7 ± 5033.5	3421.5 ± 8211.2	0.183
HCC Stage
StageI	0	1	0.412
Stage II	12	11
Stage III	23	35
Stage IVa	5	12
Max tumor size (cm)	3.34 ± 1.67	3.59 ± 1.47	0.422
Epirubicin dose (mg)	34.8 ± 10.4	39.5 ± 9.2	0.024

WBC: White blood cell; Hb: Hemoglobin; Alb: Albumin; T-Bil: Total bilirubin; PT: Prothrombin time; AST: Aspartate aminotransferase; ALT: Alanine aminotransferase; AFP: Alpha-fetoprotein; PIVKAII: Protein induced vitamin K absence or antagonist II; HCC: Hepatocellular carcinoma; BCAA: Branched-chain amino acids.