Establishment and validation of an intratumoral fibrosis-based nomogram for predicting aggressive recurrence after liver resection in hepatocellular carcinoma

Table 3 Baseline characteristics of the low and high intratumoral fibrosis group before and after matching in validation cohort

Baseline characteristics	Before matching				After IPTW
	Low-ITF group (n = 106)	High-ITF group (n = 42)	P value	SMD	Low-ITF group (n = 147)	High-ITF group (n = 150)	P value	SMD
Age (years), mean ± SD	55.2 ± 12.8	52.4 ± 14.0	0.254	0.204	54.8 ± 12.7	54.3 ± 14.0	0.845	0.039
Gender			0.797	0.089	-		0.932	0.019
Male	82 (77.4)	34 (81.0)			112 (76.2)	113 (75.3)
Female	24 (22.6)	8 (19.0)			35 (23.8)	37 (24.7)
Underlying liver diseases			0.724	0.151	-		0.901	0.090
Absence	15 (14.2)	4 (9.5)			21 (14.3)	20 (13.3)
HBV	85 (80.2)	35 (83.3)			118 (80.3)	119 (79.3)
Others	6 (5.7)	3 (7.1)			8 (5.4)	11 (7.3)
Liver cirrhosis			0.388	0.192	-		0.889	0.028
Absence	53 (50.0)	25 (59.5)			78 (53.1)	77 (51.3)
Presence	53 (50.0)	17 (40.5)			69 (46.9)	73 (48.7)
Tumor size (mm), median and IQR	46.00 (33.03, 66.75)	55.00 (30.50, 90.25)	0.434	0.235	46.00 (32.67, 68.70)	51.10 (28.51, 89.40)	0.831	0.147
INR, median and IQR	1.00 (0.94, 1.08)	1.02 (0.94, 1.07)	0.892	0.032	1.00 (0.94, 1.08)	1.01 (0.94, 1.08)	0.784	0.059
Neutrophil (× 109), median and IQR	3.07 (2.38, 4.25)	3.51 (2.52, 4.63)	0.339	0.103	3.05 (2.35, 4.23)	3.44 (2.29, 4.75)	0.335	0.155
Lymphocyte (× 109), median and IQR	1.32 (1.02, 1.80)	1.23 (1.02, 1.86)	0.837	0.095	1.32 (1.03, 1.81)	1.21 (1.02, 1.66)	0.534	0.189
Platelet (× 109), median and IQR	155(85, 205)	138(87, 193)	0.782	0.147	154 (82,201)	134 (80,190)	0.686	0.180
Monocyte (× 109), median and IQR	0.36 (0.28, 0.50)	0.41 (0.30, 0.54)	0.373	0.039	0.36 (0.26, 0.49)	0.41 (0.31, 0.53)	0.305	0.051
ALT (U/L), median and IQR	32.7 (21.7, 46.5)	37.1 (29.6, 50.0)	0.137	0.104	32.7 (20.4, 45.9)	34.1 (22.8, 47.4)	0.706	0.005
AST (U/L), median and IQR	38.7 (26.5, 51.0)	41.7 (31.2, 53.0)	0.249	0.130	38.8 (26.5, 51.0)	39.4 (26.6, 52.4)	0.852	0.016
Creatine (umol/L), median and IQR	61.0 (52.9, 72.0)	64.1 (51.5, 75.6)	0.521	0.020	61.0 (52.0, 72.0)	64.2 (49.0, 76.3)	0.496	0.052
Albumin (g/L), median and IQR	41.3 (37.3, 43.8)	41.6 (38.0, 45.3)	0.308	0.147	41.2 (36.5, 43.8)	41.5 (37.0, 44.6)	0.460	0.122
Total bilirubin (umol/L), median and IQR	11.7 (9.2, 17.6)	14.6 (10.8, 19.3)	0.093	0.313	12.2 (9.5, 17.7)	11.6 (9.5, 16.6)	0.905	0.023
AFP (ng/mL)			0.055	0.387	-		0.779	0.054
≤ 200	68 (64.2)	19 (45.2)			88 (59.9)	94 (62.7)
> 200	38 (35.8)	23 (54.8)			59 (40.1)	56 (37.3)
MVI			0.620	0.124	-		0.992	0.002
Negative	67 (63.2)	24 (57.1)			94 (63.9)	96 (64.0)
Positive	39 (36.8)	18 (42.9)			53 (36.1)	54 (36.0)
Satellite lesion			0.956	0.047	-		0.388	0.159
Absence	76 (71.7)	31 (73.8)			107 (72.8)	120 (80.0)
Presence	30 (28.3)	11 (26.2)			40 (27.2)	30 (20)
VETC pattern			0.373	0.196	-		0.356	0.186
Absence	73 (68.9)	25 (59.5)			100 (68.0)	89 (59.3)
Presence	33 (31.1)	17 (40.5)			47 (32.0)	61 (40.7)
Tumor grade			0.054	0.385	-		0.933	0.016
Well-moderately	75 (70.8)	22 (52.4)			96 (65.3)	97 (64.7)
Poorly	31 (29.2)	20 (47.6)			51 (34.7)	53 (35.3)

Data are presented as n (%). ITF: Intratumoral fibrosis; SMD: Standardized mean difference; INR: International normalized ratio; MVI: Microvascular invasion; VETC: Vessels that encapsulate tumor clusters; ALT: Alanine aminotransferase; AST: Aspartate aminotransferase; IQR: Interquartile range; AFP: Alpha-fetoprotein.