Objective To identify the factors influencing early recurrence in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) after curative resection. Methods Clinical data for 99 patients with HCC undergoing curative resection were analyzed. The clinicopathological factors influencing early recurrence were analyzed by Cox regression. Results Twenty-five of 99 patients (25.3%) suffered from early recurrence. There were significant differences between patients with and without recurrence in terms of tumor diameter, tumor capsular integrity, and preoperative alpha fetoprotein level. Cox regression analysis revealed that a tumor diameter >2.6 cm and preoperatively increased total bilirubin (TBL) level were risk factors for postoperative recurrence, while tumor capsular integrity had a protective effect on postoperative recurrence. After adjusting for preoperative TBL level and tumor capsular integrity, the risk of HCC recurrence was markedly increased in line with increasing tumor diameter in a non-linear manner. Conclusion Tumor diameter >2.6 cm and preoperatively increased TBL level are associated with a higher risk of early recurrence after curative resection in patients with HCC, while tumor capsular integrity is associated with a lower risk of early recurrence.

A retrospective cohort study was conducted to collect 465 patients with hepatitis B-related hepatocellular carcinoma who had undergone radical hepatectomy from January 1, 2012, to August 31, 2018, at the First Affiliated Hospital of the University of Science and Technology of China. The clinical, pathological, and follow-up information was collected to compare the basic characteristics of death and nondeath after radical resection. Kaplan–Meier curves were used for survival analysis and male and female subgroup analysis. The multivariate Cox proportional-hazards regression model was used to analyze independent risk factors related to postoperative death. Of the 465 patients with radical resection of hepatitis B-related hepatocellular carcinoma, 132 died, and 1-, 3-, and 5-year cumulative survival rates after operation were 92.1%, 78%, and 64%, respectively. In the male and female subgroup, 115 and 17 patients died, respectively. The 1-, 3-, and 5-year cumulative survival rates were 92.6%, 77.0%, and 62.6%, respectively, in men, and 89.6%, 78.8%, and 70.2%, respectively, in women. Multivariate Cox proportional-hazards regression analysis showed that microvascular invasion (MVI), Edmondson III/IV, BCLC stage B, and total bilirubin (TB) > 20.5 μmol/L were independent risk factors in patients with hepatitis B-related hepatocellular carcinoma after radical hepatectomy.

To examine the feasibility of quantitative dynamic contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (DCE-MRI) in the early assessment of the therapeutic response to concurrent chemoradiotherapy (CRT) in esophageal cancer (EC) patients and to determine its value in predicting HIF-1α expression. EC patients underwent DCE-MRI 1 week pre-CRT and 3 weeks post-CRT (3w-CRT). According to tumor regression post-treatment, patients were divided into sensitive group (SG) and resistant group (RG). HIF-1α expression was assessed by immunohistochemistry (IHC). Quantitative parameters (ktrans, kep, and ve) were compared between the SG and RG groups, as well as between the HIF-1α(+) and HIF-1α(À) groups. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis was performed to detect the best predictor of the above parameters in the therapeutic response and in predicting HIF-1α expression.Totally 34 and 5 patients were included in the SG and RG, respectively. Pre-ktrans and pre-kep were decreased significantly in the SG at 3w-CRT (p < .01), whereas only pre-kep was decreased in the RG (p = .037). Pre-ktrans was higher in the SG compared with the RG (p < .01). Meanwhile, absolute Δktrans (post-ktrans-pre-ktrans) was reduced more substantially in the SG compared with the RG. Δktrans also had the highest area under the curve (AUC = 0.929) in distinguishing SG from RG. Based on IHC, 13 and 11 patients were HIF-1α(+) and HIF-1α(À), respectively. At 3w-CRT, post-ktrans was markedly lower than pre-ktrans in the HIF-1α(+) group (p < .01); however, both ktrans and kep in the HIF-1α(À) group were dramatically reduced than pre-treatment values (both p < .01). Pre-ktrans was significantly higher in the HIF-1α (À) group compared with the HIF-1α(+) group (p = .002) and constituted an excellent Xiaodong Xie and Lingling Gu contributed equally to this study.