Meta-Analysis
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2023.
World J Gastrointest Surg. Feb 27, 2023; 15(2): 258-272
Published online Feb 27, 2023. doi: 10.4240/wjgs.v15.i2.258
Table 1 Cumulative mean value of 49 arms of studies and patient profiles from 30 articles of curative treatment of recurrent hepatocellular carcinoma after primary liver resection
Arm in study, n
Patient, n1
Male %
Age in yr
HBV (+) %
HCV (+) %
Cirrhosis %
MVI (+) %
rChild A %
Time to recurrence in mo
rTumor size in mm
rTumor (n = 1) %
RH = 17140579.956.5 ± 6.868.633.355.829.878.726.0 ± 8.325.3 ± 6.876.2
RFA = 11101383.256.4 ± 5.578.512.459.026.694.918.1 ± 6.521.5 ± 4.078.6
TACE = 8112386.554.6 ± 8.773.421.749.330.791.714.7 ± 6.632.2 ± 16.162.3
LT = 12148489.153.6 ± 5.381.79.368.431.676.919.4 ± 10.427.1 ± 8.062.2
Table 2 Predictive P score for each treatment method for recurrent hepatocellular carcinoma
P score/subgroup
1-yr DFS
3-yr DFS
5-yr DFS
1-yr OS
3-yr OS
5-yr OS
RH0.64700.49990.51000.739010.932010.83311
LT0.998610.999810.982010.69800.54700.7505
RFA0.3531 0.00030.00800.53400.50900.4159
TACE0.0012 NANA0.03000.01300.0500
Table 3 Meta-regression analysis for comparison of subgroups
Subgroup
β
SE
95%CI
Z value
P value
Lower limit
Upper limit
1-yr DFS
Intercept0.658 0.177 0.311 1.005 3.720 < 0.001
LT vs RH0.9301 0.283 0.376 1.485 3.290 0.001
RFA vs RH-0.315 0.272 -0.848 0.217 -1.160 0.246
TACE vs RH-1.823 0.447 -2.699 -0.946 -4.080 < 0.001
3-yr DFS
Intercept-0.353 0.212 -0.769 0.063 -1.660 0.096
RFA vs RH-0.609 0.335 -1.266 0.049 -1.810 0.070
TACE vs RH-2.235 0.751 -3.707 -0.763 -2.980 0.003
LT vs RH1.1811 0.322 0.550 1.812 3.670 < 0.001
5-yr DFS
Intercept-0.748 0.216 -1.171 -0.325 -3.460 0.001
RFA vs RH-0.834 0.366 -1.552 -0.116 -2.280 0.023
TACE vs RH-0.762 0.577 -1.893 0.369 -1.320 0.186
LT vs RH1.2581 0.324 0.623 1.893 3.880 < 0.001
1-yr OS
Intercept2.185 0.208 1.777 2.594 10.480 < 0.001
LT vs RH-0.0361 0.332 -0.687 0.614 -0.110 0.913
RFA vs RH-0.041 0.325 -0.677 0.596 -0.130 0.900
TACE vs RH-0.614 0.332 -1.264 0.036 -1.850 0.064
3-yr OS
Intercept0.996 0.162 0.679 1.313 6.150 < 0.001
RFA vs RH-0.394 0.251 -0.885 0.098 -1.570 0.116
TACE vs RH-1.114 0.287 -1.676 -0.551 -3.880 < 0.001
LT vs RH0.0401 0.265 -0.479 0.558 0.150 0.881
5-yr OS
Intercept0.204 0.185 -0.158 0.565 1.100 0.270
RFA vs RH-0.317 0.293 -0.890 0.257 -1.080 0.279
TACE vs RH-0.917 0.328 -1.559 -0.275 -2.800 0.005
LT vs RH0.3921 0.298 -0.192 0.975 1.320 0.188
Table 4 Overall heterogeneity of outcome measured by Q test with random effects model and pooled effect size of each subgroup
Outcome
Heterogeneity
Pooled effect (overall)
Q value
df (Q)
P value
I2
Z value
95%CI
P value
1-yr DFS224.67030< 0.00186.650.6720.625-0.716P < 0.001
3-yr DFS583.66530< 0.00194.860.4140.370-0.46P < 0.001
5-yr DFS764.47632< 0.00195.810.3150.276-0.357P < 0.001
1-yr OS219.82046< 0.00179.070.8740.850-0.895P < 0.001
3-yr OS437.662450.00289.720.6420.642-0.714P < 0.001
5-yr OS730.28548< 0.00193.430.5460.497-0.594P = 0.068
Table 5 Summary of the better pooled outcome of treatments depended on the analysis method
Test method
1-yr DFS
3-yr DFS
5-yr DFS
1-yr OS
3-yr OS
5-yr OS
Wilcoxon rank sum testLTLTLTRFARHRH
Forest plot analysisLTLTLTLTRHRH
Wald testLTLTLTLTRHRH
P scoreLTLTLTRHRHRH
Meta-regression analysisLTLTLTRHLTLT