Histopathological characteristics of needle core biopsy and surgical specimens from patients with solitary hepatocellular carcinoma or intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma

Table 1 Baseline clinical characteristics of the patients included in the study

Variable		Value
Age (yr)	Median	55
	Range	26-84
	means ± SD	54.4 ± 11.1
Sex, n (%)
	Male	177 (85.1)
	Female	31 (14.9)
Cirrhosis, n (%)
	Yes	173 (83.2)
	No	35 (16.8)
Aetiology, n (%)
	HBV infection	192 (92.3)
	HCV infection	12 (5.8)
	alcohol abuse	2 (1.0)
	Primary biliary cirrhosis	1 (0.5)
	Schistosoma infection	1 (0.5)
Tumour diameter (cm)
	Median	4.0
	Range	1.8-15
	means ± SD	4.6 ± 2.5

SD: Standard deviation; HBV: Hepatitis B virus; HCV: Hepatitis C virus.

Table 2 Degree of concordance of the morphology between needle core biopsy and surgery specimen

SS	NCB
	A	B	C	D	E	F	G	H
A	21	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
B	16	51	1	0	1	0	0	0
C	2	14	36	0	0	0	0	0
D	2	3	1	2	0	0	0	0
E	0	5	4	0	3	0	0	0
F	0	0	0	0	0	2	0	0
G	0	0	21	1	0	0	11	9
H	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	2
Kappa value	0.504
P value	< 0.001

SS: Surgery specimen; NCB: Needle core biopsy; A: Acinar/pseudoglandular/thin trabecular; B: Thick trabecular; C: Compact tumour nests; D: Clear cell hepatocellular carcinoma; E: Scirrhous hepatocellular carcinoma; F: Spindle cell hepatocellular carcinoma; G: Glandular; H: Cord-like pattern

Table 3 Degree of concordance in the interpretation of CK19 staining between needle core biopsy and surgery specimen

NCB		SS
		4-tier				4-tier-based binary classification		3-tier			3-tier-based binary classification
		+++	++	+	-	+	-	++	+	-	+	-
4-tier	+++	52	1	0	0
	++	3	2	0	0
	+	3	21	4	0
	-	0	0	7	115
4-tier-based binary classification	+					86	0
	-					7	115
3-tier	++							35	8	0
	+							7	22	0
	-							0	2	134
3-tier-based binary Classification	+										72	0
	-										2	134
Kappa value		0.717				0.931		0.814			0.979
P value		< 0.001				< 0.001		< 0.001			< 0.001

NCB: Needle core biopsy; SS: Surgery specimen.

Table 4 Degree of concordance in the interpretation of glypican-3 staining between needle core biopsy and surgery specimen

NCB		SS
		4-tier				4-tier-based binary classification		3-tier			3-tier-based binary classification
		+++	++	+	-	+	-	++	+	-	+	-
4-tier	+++	62	1	0	0
	++	18	25	2	0
	+	2	2	15	0
	-	0	1	8	72
4-tier-based binary classification	+					127	0
	-					9	72
3-tier	++							42	5	0
	+							25	26	5
	-							0	2	103
3-tier-based binary classification	+										98	5
	-										2	103
Kappa value		0.768				0.907		0.714			0.933
P value		< 0.001				< 0.001		< 0.001			< 0.001

NCB: Needle core biopsy; SS: Surgery specime.

Table 5 Degree of concordance in the interpretation of Hepatocyte paraffin-1 staining between needle core biopsy and surgery specimen

NCB		SS
		4-tier				4-tier-based binary classification		3-tier			3-tier-based binary classification
		+++	++	+	-	+	-	++	+	-	+	-
4-tier	+++	79	0	0	0
	++	15	1	0	0
	+	5	12	12	0
	-	1	5	13	65
4-tier-based binary classification	+					124	0
	-					19	65
3-tier	++							35	26	0
	+							12	32	7
	-							0	6	90
3-tier-based binary classification	+										105	7
	-										6	90
Kappa value		0.633				0.803		0.619			0.874
P value		< 0.001				< 0.001		< 0.001			< 0.001

NCB: Needle core biopsy; SS: Surgery specimen.

Table 6 Degree of concordance between needle core biopsy and surgery specimen diagnosis

NCB diagnosis		SS diagnosis (gold standard)
		HCC	ICC
Morphology	HCC	146	7
	ICC	10	45
	Kappa value	0.786
	P value	< 0.001
3-tier-based binary classification	HCC	151	2
	ICC	5	50
	Kappa value	0.912
	P value	< 0.001
4-tier-based binary classification	HCC	155	0
	ICC	1	52
	Kappa value	0.987
	P value	< 0.001

NCB: Needle core biopsy; SS: Surgery specimen; HCC: Hepatocellular carcinoma; ICC: Intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma.

Table 7 Degree of concordance of the histological grade between surgery specimen and needle core biopsy

SS	NCB
	3-tier			2-tier
	Well	Moderately	Poorly	Well and moderately	Poorly
3-tier
Well	15	3	0
Moderately	17	66	10
Poorly	5	30	62
2-tier
Well + moderately				101	10
Poorly				35	62
Kappa value	0.488			0.588
P value	< 0.001			< 0.001

SS: Surgery specimen; NCB: Needle core biopsy.