Early steroid withdrawal after liver transplantation for hepatocellular carcinoma

Table 1 Preoperative and intraoperative data for patients in the 2 groups

Parameter	Group A (n = 28)	Group B (n = 26)	P value
Sex (F/M)	1/27	0/26	0.3370
Mean age at OLT	45.7 ± 3.5	47.4 ± 6.3	0.2310
TNM stage of carcinoma			0.9914
II	1 (3.5%)	1 (3.8%)
III A	8 (28.6%)	7 (26.9%)
III B	5 (17.9%)	4 (15.4%)
IV A	14 (50.0%)	14 (53.8%)
Child-Pugh class			0.5259
A	20 (71.4%)	21 (80.8%)
B	7 (25.0%)	5 (19.2%)
C	1 (3.5%)	0 (0.0%)
Liver and kidney function
ALT (nka/L)	935.1 ± 383.3	1010.2 ± 536.8	0.5545
T-Bil (μmol/L)	23.1 ± 11.2	20.1 ± 10.8	0.3314
Creatinine (μmol/L)	67.8 ± 22.2	59.8 ± 24.3	0.2218
Graft cold ischemic time (min)	481.6 ± 97.0	462.1 ± 88.0	0.4464
Anhepatic phase (min)	51.5 ± 3.4	50.8 ± 3.1	0.4339
Operation time (min)	375.2 ± 98.1	391.5 ± 116.7	0.5799

OLT: Orthotopic liver transplantation.

Table 2 Rejection, tumor recurrence, and survival rate

Group n	Rejection rate	Tumor recurrence rate		1-yr survival rate (%)
		6-mo	1 yr
A 28	14.3	25.0	39.2a	64.2
B 26	11.5	42.3	69.2	46.1

^aP < 0.05 vs Group B.

Table 3 Biochemical indicator after operation (mean ± SD)

Group n	FK506 trough levels (μg/L)	ALT (nka/L)		Creatinine (μmol/L)		Total cholesterol (mmol/L)	Blood-fasting sugar (mmol/L)
		3-mo	6-mo	3-mo	6-mo	6-mo	6-mo
A (n = 28)	6.9 ± 1.4	567 ± 233	533 ± 183	69 ± 18	66 ± 18	3.9 ± 1.8b	5.1 ± 2.1b
B (n = 26)	7.1 ± 1.1	500 ± 350	617 ± 217	75 ± 15	71 ± 19	5.9 ± 2.6	8.9 ± 3.6

^bP < 0.01 vs Group B.