Better performance of PIVKA-II for detecting hepatocellular carcinoma in patients with chronic liver disease with normal total bilirubin

Table 1 Clinical characteristics of patients with non-hepatocellular carcinoma and hepatocellular carcinoma

Variable	Non-HCC			HCC
	Viral liver disease (n = 595)	Nonviral liver disease (n = 189)	P value	Early stage HCC (n = 127)	Late stage HCC (n = 140)	P value
Age (yr)	46.2 ± 13.4	49.6 ± 13.5	0.003	56.5 ± 10.8	55.5 ± 12.1	0.488
Male, n (%)	418 (70.3)	117 (61.9)	0.032	113 (89.0)	125 (89.3)	0.935
Etiology			-			0.333
HBV	561 (94.3)	-		115 (90.6)	130 (92.9)
HCV	34 (5.7)	-		2 (1.6)	2 (1.4)
NAFLD	-	56 (29.6)		2 (1.6)	-
ALD	-	82 (43.4)		6 (4.7)	8 (5.7)
AILD	-	51 (27.0)		2 (1.6)	-
Cirrhosis, n (%)	274 (46.1)	75 (39.7)	0.125	112 (88.2)	120 (85.7)	0.550
ALT (U/L)	48 (25, 171)	40 (24, 74)	< 0.001	31 (22, 42)	40 (25, 67)	0.003
AST (U/L)	44 (27, 101)	38 (25, 60)	0.007	32 (24, 47)	60 (35, 95)	< 0.001
ALP (U/L)	92 (75, 122)	97 (72, 141)	0.153	90 (70, 120)	112 (88, 177)	< 0.001
GGT (U/L)	50 (28, 113)	94 (39, 241)	< 0.001	44 (25, 78)	113 (57, 208)	< 0.001
TBIL (μmol/L)	19.8 (13.2, 31.6)	16.1 (10.5, 35.0)	0.006	18.4 (11.6, 29.4)	19.3 (13.6, 30.2)	0.277
ALB (g/L)	38.8 ± 6.3	38.7 ± 7.7	0.834	38.3 ± 7.0	36.6 ± 6.0	0.036
PLT (109/L)	161 (104, 199)	206 (124, 273)	< 0.001	145 (87, 178)	188 (132, 242)	< 0.001
Tumor size (cm)	-	-	-	2.2 (1.5, 2.9)	9.3 (5.8, 13.2)	< 0.001
Number of tumors (1/2-3/> 3)	-	-	-	115/12/0	62/33/45	< 0.001
Vascular invasion	-	-	-	-	53 (37.9)	-
Extrahepatic metastases	-	-	-	-	13 (9.3)	-
PIVKA II > 40 mAU/mL, n (%)	83 (13.9)	39 (20.6)	0.027	77 (60.6)	131 (93.6)	< 0.001
PIVKA II (mAU/mL)	23.0 (18.0, 31.0)	27.0 (20.0, 38.0)	< 0.001	58.0 (25.0, 228.0)	5124 (691.0, 36245.0)	< 0.001

HCC: Hepatocellular carcinoma; HBV: Hepatitis B virus; HCV: Hepatitis C virus; NAFLD: Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease; ALD: Alcohol-related liver disease; AILD: Autoimmune liver disease; ALT: Alanine aminotransferase; AST: Aspartate aminotransferase; ALP: Alkaline phosphatase; GGT: Gamma-glutamyltranspeptidase; TBIL: Total bilirubin; ALB: Albumin; PLT: Platelet; PIVKA-II: Protein induced by vitamin K absence or antagonist-II.