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Pre-treatment double- or triple-positive tumor markers are predictive of a poor outcome for patients undergoing radiofrequency ablation for hepatocellular carcinoma

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Abstract

Purposes

We evaluated the therapeutic effect of radiofrequency ablation (RFA) on hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) according to the number of positive tumor markers.

Methods

The subjects of this study were 160 patients who underwent percutaneous and surgical RFA for HCC. Patients were divided into negative (n = 51), single- (n = 69), double- (n = 31), and triple-positive (n = 9) tumor marker groups according to the pre-treatment expression of these markers. We looked for any relationships among clinical parameters, outcomes, and tumor markers.

Results

The 3-year recurrence-free and overall survival rates of the negative, single-, double-, and triple-positive groups were 30, 19, 16, and 11 % (P = 0.02), and 94, 88, 67, and 37 % (P < 0.001), respectively. The 2-year local recurrence rates were 6.5, 0, 41.2, and 61.9 %, respectively (P < 0.001). Multivariate analysis revealed that a double- or triple-positive pre-treatment tumor marker profile was independently associated with local recurrence [hazard ratio (HR) 5.48, 95 % confidence interval (CI) 2.44–12.33, P < 0.001] and overall survival (HR 4.21, 95 % CI 1.89–9.37, P < 0.001).

Conclusion

RFA may not be suitable for patients with HCC who have pre-treatment expression of ≥two of these tumor markers.

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Author notes

    Authors and Affiliations

    1. Department of Gastroenterological Surgery, Graduate School of Life Sciences, Kumamoto University, 1-1-1 Honjo, Kumamoto, 860-8556, Japan

      Hidetoshi Nitta, Shigeki Nakagawa, Takayoshi Kaida, Kota Arima, Takaaki Higashi, Katsunobu Taki, Hirohisa Okabe, Hiromitsu Hayashi, Daisuke Hashimoto, Akira Chikamoto, Takatoshi Ishiko, Toru Beppu & Hideo Baba

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    1. Hidetoshi Nitta
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    2. Shigeki Nakagawa
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    Correspondence to Hideo Baba.

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    We declare no conflicts of interest. This study had no financial support and it has not been presented elsewhere.

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    H. Nitta and S. Nakagawa authors contributed equally to this study.

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    Nitta, H., Nakagawa, S., Kaida, T. et al. Pre-treatment double- or triple-positive tumor markers are predictive of a poor outcome for patients undergoing radiofrequency ablation for hepatocellular carcinoma. Surg Today 47, 375–384 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00595-016-1385-6

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    • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00595-016-1385-6

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