Contrast-enhanced ultrasound: Improving the preoperative staging of hepatocellular carcinoma and guiding individual treatment

Table 1 Demographic and clinical data of 69 patients and pathologic data of tumors

	Total	S-group	L-group	P value
Clinical data
Age (mean ± SD) (yr)	53.0 ± 11.8	52.69 ± 10.22	53.0 ± 13.88	0.82
Gender (Male/Female)	55:14	32:8	23:6	0.59
HBsAg (Positive/Negative)	63:6	37:3	26:3	0.69
AFP level ( ≤ 20/> 20 ng/mL)	19:50	14:26	5:24	0.17
Mean interval between two images (mean ± SD) (d)	7.88 ± 3.74	7.90 ± 3.36	7.86 ± 3.68	0.97
Mean MELD score (mean ± SD)	4.90 ± 2.81	4.92 ± 2.65	4.87 ± 3.06	0.94
Child-Pugh
Class A	69	40	29
Pathologic data
Mean nodule size (mean ± SD) (cm)	5.49 ± 3.48	3.07 ± 1.12	8.80 ± 2.81	< 0.01
Tumor number (1/2/3)1
Without CEUS	58:9:2	33:5:2	25:4	0.65
With CEUS	57:9:3	36:3:1	21:6:2	0.20
Tumor characteristics
Degree of differentiation (Well/Moderate/Poor)	6:35:28	4:20:16	2:15:12	0.70
Micro-vascular invasion (Positive/Negative)	20:49	8:32	12:17	0.065
Mean Ishak score (mean ± SD)	4.94 ± 1.31	5.30 ± 1.14	4.45 ± 1.38	0.007

¹Indicates that tumor number was documented before surgery. S-group: The “Smaller group” (≤ 5 cm in diameter); L-group: The “Larger-group” (> 5 cm in diameter). HBsAg: Hepatitis B surface antigen; AFP: Alpha-fetoprotein; CEUS: Contrast-enhanced ultrasound.