Clin Mol Hepatol.  2015 Sep;21(3):279-286. 10.3350/cmh.2015.21.3.279.

Growth rate of early-stage hepatocellular carcinoma in patients with chronic liver disease

• An C
• Choi YA
• Choi D
• Paik YH
• Ahn SH
• Kim MJ
• Paik SW
• Han KH
• Park MS

• KMID: 2351028
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.3350/cmh.2015.21.3.279

Abstract

BACKGROUND/AIMS
The goal of this study was to estimate the growth rate of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and identify the host factors that significantly affect this rate.
METHODS
Patients with early-stage HCC (n=175) who underwent two or more serial dynamic imaging studies without any anticancer treatment at two tertiary care hospitals in Korea were identified. For each patient, the tumor volume doubling time (TVDT) of HCC was calculated by comparing tumor volumes between serial imaging studies. Clinical and laboratory data were obtained from the medical records of the patients.
RESULTS
The median TVDT was 85.7 days, with a range of 11 to 851.2 days. Multiple linear regression revealed that the initial tumor diameter (a tumor factor) and the etiology of chronic liver disease (a host factor) were significantly associated with the TVDT. The TVDT was shorter when the initial tumor diameter was smaller, and was shorter in HCC related to hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection than in HCC related to hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection (median, 76.8 days vs. 137.2 days; P=0.0234).
CONCLUSIONS
The etiology of chronic liver disease is a host factor that may significantly affect the growth rate of early-stage HCC, since HBV-associated HCC grows faster than HCV-associated HCC.

Keyword

Hepatocellular carcinoma; Tumor burden; Follow-up studies; Liver neoplasm; Surveillance

MeSH Terms

Adult
Aged
Aged, 80 and over
Antiviral Agents/therapeutic use
Carcinoma, Hepatocellular/complications/*pathology/radiography
Demography
Female
Hepatitis B, Chronic/*complications/drug therapy
Hepatitis C, Chronic/*complications/drug therapy
Humans
Linear Models
Liver Neoplasms/complications/*pathology/radiography
Magnetic Resonance Imaging
Male
Middle Aged
Neoplasm Staging
Republic of Korea
Retrospective Studies
Tertiary Care Centers
Tomography, X-Ray Computed
Antiviral Agents