Value of α-fetoprotein in association with clinicopathological features of hepatocellular carcinoma

Table 3 Positive rate of patients with different tumor-related factors in four α-fetoprotein level inervals n (%)

Variables AFP (μg/L)	≤20	20-400	401-800	≥801	n = 2304	P value
HBV infection						< 0.001
Yes	507 (26.7)	441 (23.2)	126 (6.4)	801 (42.4)	1875 (81.4)
No	202 (47.0)	82 (19.2)	18 (4.3)	127 (29.5)	429 (18.6)
Tumor size (cm)						< 0.001
≤ 5	243 (27.90)	361 (41.45)	66 (7.58)	201 (23.08)	871 (37.80)
5-10	262 (32.59)	206 (25.62)	43 (5.35)	293 (36.44)	804 (34.90)
≥ 10	117 (18.60)	84 (13.35)	27 (4.29)	401 (63.75)	629 (27.30)
Tumor number						0.593
1	469 (28.15)	461 (27.67)	103 (6.18)	622 (38.00)	1666 (72.31)
2	66 (22.92)	97 (33.68)	14 (4.86)	111 (38.54)	288 (12.50)
≥ 3	87 (24.86)	93 (26.57)	19 (5.43)	151 (43.14)	350 (15.19)
Vascular invasion						< 0.001
No	510 (29.75)	498 (29.05)	101 (5.89)	605 (35.30)	1714 (74.39)
Yes	112 (19.98)	153 (25.93)	35 (5.93)	290 (49.15)	590 (25.61)
Tumor differentiation						0.012
High	57 (42.22)	60 (44.44)	5 (3.70)	16 (11.85)	135 (5.99)
Intermediate	285 (29.75)	263 (27.45)	81 (8.46)	335 (34.97)	958 (41.84)
Low	263 (35.93)	134 (18.31)	43 (5.87)	301 (41.12)	732 (32.16)
TNM staging						0.767
I	125 (25.25)	139 (28.08)	23 (4.65)	208 (42.02)	495 (21.48)
II	90 (31.14)	81 (28.03)	18 (6.23)	100 (34.60)	289 (12.54)
IIIA	197 (27.13)	201 (27.69)	50 (6.89)	278 (38.29)	726 (31.51)
IIIB	50 (28.36)	64 (29.91)	10 (4.67)	90 (42.06)	214 (9.29)
IIIC	27 (26.73)	28 (27.72)	5 (4.95)	41 (40.59)	101 (4.38)
IV	133 (27.77)	138 (28.81)	30 (6.26)	178 (37.16)	479 (20.79)
BCLC staging						< 0.001
A	261 (30.03)	266 (30.61)	56 (6.44)	286 (32.91)	869 (37.72)
B	59 (23.51)	78 (31.08)	15 (5.98)	99 (39.44)	251 (10.89)
C	271 (23.36)	272 (24.46)	53 (5.16)	432 (42.02)	1028 (44.62)
D	31 (19.87)	35 (22.44)	12 (7.69)	78 (50.00)	156 (6.77)
China staging						0.124
I	34 (24.82)	54 (39.42)	3 (2.19)	46 (33.58)	137 (5.95)
IIa	48 (24.24)	70 (35.35)	7 (3.54)	73 (36.87)	198 (8.59)
IIb	231 (25.87)	237 (26.54)	65 (7.28)	360 (40.31)	893 (38.76)
III	309 (28.72)	290 (29.95)	61 (5.67)	416 (38.66)	1078 (46.70)

Patients were divided into four groups according to the serum α-fetoprotein (AFP) level, they were ≤ 20, 20-400, 401-800 and ≥ 801 μg/L, the positive rate of patients in each interval of AFP were calculated. HBV: Hepatitis B virus; TNM: Tumor-node-metastasis; BCLC: The Barcelona-Clinic Liver Cancer Group.