Preoperative Aspartate Aminotransferase to White Blood Cell Count Ratio Predicting Postoperative Outcomes of Hepatocellular Carcinoma

Effective biomarkers for predicting prognosis of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) patients after hepatectomy is urgently needed. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the value of the preoperative peripheral aspartate aminotransferase to white blood cell count ratio (AWR) for the prognostication of patients with HCC. Clinical data of 396 HCC patients who underwent radical hepatectomy were retrospectively analyzed. The patients were divided into the low-AWR group (AWR ≤5.2) and the high-AWR group (AWR >5.2); univariate analysis, Kaplan–Meier method analysis, and the multivariate analysis by Cox regression were conducted, respectively. The results showed that AWR was associated with alpha-fetoprotein (AFP), tumor size, Barcelona clinic liver cancer (BCLC) stage, portal vein tumor thrombus (PVTT), and alanine aminotransferase (ALT) in HCC. AWR > 5.2, AFP > 100 ng/mL, size of tumor >6 cm, number of multiple tumors, B-C of BCLC stage, PVTT, and distant metastasis were predictors of poorer disease-free survival (DFS) and overall survival (OS). Except for recurrence, which was an independent predictor for OS only, AWR >5.2, size of tumor >6 cm, and PVTT were independent predictors of both DFS and OS. We concluded that preoperative AWR > 5.2 was an adverse predictor of DFS and OS in HCC after hepatectomy, AWR might be a novel prognostic biomarker in HCC after curative resection.