Effect of branched-chain amino acids in patients receiving intervention for hepatocellular carcinoma

Table 1 Characteristics of study groups underwent transarterial chemoembolization and radiofrequency ablation

Characteristics	TACE			RFA
	Control group	BCAA group	P value	Control group	BCAA group	P value
	n = 86	n = 76		n = 68	n = 40
Male/female	57/29	46/30	0.746	47/21	13/27	< 0.001
Age (yr)	72.2 ± 8.6	71.7 ± 7.2	0.055	71.9 ± 6.5	73.0 ± 6.0	0.386
Cause of hepatic cirrhosis	13/49/24	9/64/3	0.025	7/47/14	0/34/6	0.068
(B/C/non B non C)
Child-Pugh (A/B/C)	11/1/1974	35/36/5	< 0.001	59/9/0	23/16/1	< 0.001
Child-Pugh score	5.6 ± 0.9	6.8 ± 1.4	< 0.001	5.7 ± 0.9	6.6 ± 1.1	0.001
HCC clinical stage	21/49/11/5/0	13/14/21/27/1	< 0.001	21/40/6/0/1	16/16/7/1/0	0.276
(I/II/III/IVa/IVb)
Alb (g/dL)	3.8 ± 0.5	3.3 ± 0.4	< 0.001	3.6 ± 0.4	3.2 ± 0.4	< 0.001
CRP (mg/dL)	1.0 ± 0.3	0.3 ± 0.5	< 0.001	1.0 ± 0.3	0.3 ± 0.5	0.010
Body temperature (°C)	36.2 ± 0.4	36.4 ± 0.5	0.006	36.3 ± 0.5	36.4 ± 0.4	0.006
PT	95% ± 10%	86% ± 15%	< 0.001	94% ± 10%	87% ± 14%	0.008
T-Bil (mg/dL)	0.9 ± 0.5	1.3 ± 1.1	0.007	0.8 ± 0.3	1.0 ± 0.5	0.014
AFP (ng/mL)	392 ± 70	1657 ± 434	0.009	392 ± 70	1657 ± 434	0.009
PIVKA-II (mAU/mL)	334 ± 975	385 ± 1180	0.819	334 ± 975	385 ± 1180	0.819
Max tumor size (mm)	29 ± 26	29 ± 32	0.937	21 ± 8	20 ± 8	0.364

Data were assessed using student’s t test. HCC: Hepatocellular carcinoma; Alb: Albumin; CRP: C-reactive protein; PT: Prothrombin time; T-Bil: Total bilirubin; AFP: α-fetoprotein; PIVKA-II: Prothrombin induced by vitamin K absence-II; TACE: Transarterial chemoembolization; RFA: Radiofrequency ablation; BCAA: Branched-chain amino acids.