Tumour seeding after percutaneous cryoablation for hepatocellular carcinoma

Table 3 Characteristics of patients with and without tumour seeding

Variable	Seeding was identified(n = 11)	Seeding was not identified (n = 1425)	P value
Age (yr)1	56.5 ± 9.0	55.5 ± 9.3	0.8970
Gender (male/female)	8/3	1168/257	0.6895
HBs-Ag positive only	10	1219	0.9412
HCV-Ab positive only	1	167	1.0000
Both positive	0	19	1.0000
Both negative	0	20	1.0000
Child-Pugh class (A/B)	8/3	866/559	0.6176
Tumour size (cm)1	4.5 ± 1.9	4.6 ± 3.0	0.8800
Number of tumours1	1.3 ± 0.6	1.3 ± 0.7	0.9520
Number of sessions1	2.2 ± 1.2	2.3 ± 1.1	0.8764
Number of needle insertions1	3.3 ± 1.7	3.8 ± 1.1	0.3430
Direct subcapsular insertion	8	205	0.0043
Subcapsular location	8	476	0.0152
Biopsy performed2	6	730	0.8264
Poorly differentiated tumour	3	243	0.6674
BCLC stage (A/B/C)	4/6/1	783/447/195	0.2869
Completed ablation (yes/no)	8/3	1161/264	0.7235
AFP (ng/mL)1	1182.9 ± 2668.6	577.0 ± 2038.1	0.3270

¹Values are expressed as mean ± SD;

²Of 736 cases in which biopsy was performed. HBs-Ag: Hepatitis B surface antigen; HCV-Ab: Hepatitis C virus antibody; BCLC: The Barcelona Clinic Liver Cancer classification; AFP: Alpha-fetoprotein.