Successful initial ablation therapy contributes to survival in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma

Table 4 Comparison of clinical background between successful initial treatment group and unsuccessful initial treatment group

	Initial treatment
	Successful	Unsuccessful
	(n = 125)	(n = 28)
Sex
Male/Female	75/50	18/10
Age (yr)
< 70/≥ 70	67/58	12/16
Etiology
HCV/HBV/Alcohol/Others	108/6/7/4	26/2/0/0
Child-Pugh class
A/B	110/15	23/5
Serum albumin level (g/dL)
≤ 3.5/> 3.5	43/82	7/21
Tumor size (cm)
≤ 3/> 3	102/23	18/10a
Tumor number
Single/Multiple	90/35	12/16a
Type of ablation therapy
RF ablation/PEI	90/35	20/8
Serum alpha-fetoprotein level (ng/mL)
< 400/≥ 400	119/6	23/5a
Serum PIVKA-II level (ng/mL)
< 300/≥ 300	113/12	20/8a

RF: radiofrequency; PEI: percutaneous ethanol injection; HCV: hepatitis C virus; HBV: hepatitis B virus; PIVKA-II: protein induced vitamin K absence or antagonist II.

^aP < 0.05 vs the successful initial treatment group.