Prediction of Post-Operative Liver Dysfunction by Serum Markers of Liver Fibrosis in Hepatocellular Carcinoma

AIM: To investigate the role of biomarkers in predicting postoperative liver dysfunction in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). METHODS: A total of 200 patients operated from July 2009 to June 2010 at Zhongshan Hospital, Fudan University for pathologically confirmed HCC were retrospectively analyzed for clinical data, HBD DNA level and serum biochemical markers for liver fibrosis. The patients were followed up to observersation end point. Correlation of the monitored parameters with postoperative liver dysfunction and patient survival was statistically analyzed. RESULTS: Preoperative hepatitis B virus (HBV) DNA level, serum prealbumin (PA) hyaluronic acid (HA), and laminin (LN) levels correlated with postoperative liver dysfunction. A predictive model was generated using these 4 parameters and validated in 89 HCC patients with sensitivity and specificity of 0.625 and 0.912, respectively. However, no correlation was identified between postoperative liver function and overall survival. CONCLUSION: Liver fibrosis markers could be preoperatively used in predicting postoperative liver dysfunction in HCC patients.