Histopathology of type C liver disease for determining hepatocellular carcinoma risk factors

Table 3 Factors associated with the development of hepatocellular carcinoma, identified by comparing patients with sustained virological response by univariate analysis using Cox proportional hazard regression method (n = 232)

Parameter	F0 + 1 + 2			F3 + 4
	RR	95%CI	P value	RR	95%CI	P value
Clinical background factors1
Gender (male)	1.200	0.109-13.252	0.8815	-	-	-
Age (yr)	1.308	0.985-1.737	0.0635	1.123	0.959-1.314	0.1494
BMI	1.121	0.693-1.814	0.6415	0.987	0.549-1.772	0.9644
AST (U/L)	0.996	0.964-1.028	0.7903	1.003	0.971-1.037	0.8540
ALT (U/L)	0.992	0.965-1.020	0.5678	0.996	0.972-1.020	0.7494
γ-GT (U/L)	0.996	0.975-1.018	0.7169	1.001	0.977-1.025	0.9436
Platelet count (× 104/μL)	1.004	0.837-1.204	0.9634	1.088	0.855-1.384	0.4936
Genotype type 1	-	-	-	0.285	0.030-2.752	0.2781
AFP (ng/mL)	0.989	0.867-1.129	0.8698	0.995	0.919-1.077	0.9046
Histological findings
Irregular regeneration2
Dysplastic change	1.920	0.720-5.124	0.1926	1.330	0.543-3.256	0.5322
Oncocytes	-	-	-	1.788	0.510-6.265	0.3639
Map-like distribution	-	-	-	3.082	1.066-8.913	0.0378
Nodularity	-	-	-	-	-	-
Bulging	-	-	-	-	-	-
Atypical hepatocytes	-	-	-	42.055	4.303-411.029	0.0013
Infiltration
Peri-portal	3.248	0.537-19.655	0.1995	0.477	0.110-2.067	0.3225
Parenchymal	3.028	0.389-23.604	0.2902	0.420	0.092-1.921	0.2634
Portal lymphocyte	2.085	0.217-20.014	0.5241	1.213	0.177-8.333	0.8443
Portal lymphoid reaction	2.362	0.345-16.168	0.3812	3.364	0.484-23.407	0.2202
Fibrosis
F stage
Portal sclerosis	0.551	0.078-3.884	0.5500	1.293	0.444-3769	0.6373
Pericellular fibrosis	0.963	0.243-3.822	0.9576	0.534	0.117-2.440	0.4184
Perivenular fibrosis	0.627	0.168-2.344	0.4878	0.429	0.076-2.412	0.3370
Bridging necrosis Y	-	-	-	-	-	-
Bile duct damage	0.678	0.113-4.061	0.6707	1.305	0.374-4.555	0.6766
Steatosis	1.064	0.343-3.306	0.9142	1.660	0.623-4.421	0.3106

We compared the clinical background factors and histological findings at liver biopsy of the patients with sustained virological response in the F0 + 1 + 2 and F3 + 4 groups, data of which are shown. Univariate analysis using the Cox proportional hazard regression method was applied to these parameters to determine the clinical background factors that were associated with the development of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).

¹None of the clinical background factors showed any significant associations with HCC. Blank in the table signifies that the bias was applied, but could not be statistically processed;

²Significant correlations were found for map-like distribution (RR = 3.082, 95%CI: 1.066-8.913, P = 0.0378) and atypical hepatocytes (RR = 42.055, 95%CI: 4.303-411.0, P = 0.0013) in the F3 + 4 patients. None of the liver histopathological findings showed any significant associations with HCC in the F0 + 1 + 2 patients. Blank values signify that the bias was applied, but could not be statistically processed. AST: Aspartate aminotransferase; ALT: Alanine aminotransferase; AFP: α-fetoprotein; BMI: Body mass index; GT: glutamyltransferase.