Diagnostic value of AFP-L3 and PIVKA-II in hepatocellular carcinoma according to total-AFP

Figure 1 α-fetoprotein (A), α-fetoprotein-L3 (B) and prothrombin induced by vitamin K absence-II (C) values in benign liver disease and hepatocellular carcinoma patients. α-fetoprotein (AFP)-L3 and prothrombin induced by vitamin K absence (PIVKA)-II levels are plotted by AFP concentrations (AFP < 20 ng/mL, AFP 20-200 ng/mL and AFP > 200 ng/mL). In patients with AFP < 20 ng/mL, AFP-L3 levels were higher in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) (P < 0.001) (B). In patients with AFP 20-200 ng/mL, PIVKA-II showed higher levels in HCC (P = 0.010) (C). The horizontal dotted lines are cut-off values used for performance analysis in this study. BLD: Benign liver disease.