Albumin-bilirubin and platelet-albumin-bilirubin grades for hepatitis B-associated hepatocellular carcinoma in Child–Pugh A patients treated with radical surgery: A retrospective observational study

Child–Pugh (CP) grade A patients with early stage hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) are candidates for curative surgery, while some patients still have a poor outcome. The aim of this study was to investigate the prognostic values of 2 new evaluation models for liver function, named albumin-bilirubin (ALBI) and platelet-albumin-bilirubin (PALBI) grades, in CP grade A patients with HCC. In this retrospective cohort study, we reviewed 134 cases of CP grade A patients with hepatitis B-associated HCC who underwent radical surgery. ALBI and PALBI grades were calculated based on preoperative serologic examinations. Overall survival (OS) and recurrence-free survival (RFS) were estimated by Kaplan–Meier curve and Cox regression. The prognostic performances of the models were estimated by using the concordance index (C-index). During a median follow-up time of 27 months, 27.6% (37/134) of patients died and 26.1% (35/134) experienced recurrence. Kaplan–Meier analyses showed that ALBI and PALBI grades were significantly associated with OS and RFS. Multivariate analyses further revealed that both ALBI and PALBI grades were independent predictors for survival. Furthermore, the prognostic values of the combination of tumor size with ALBI (C-index = 0.754, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.675–0.849) or with PALBI (C-index = 0.762, 95% CI: 0.664–0.844) may be comparable with both Barcelona Clinic Liver Cancer and Cancer of Liver Italian Program staging systems. The ALBI and PALBI grades, in particular the combination with tumor size, are effective models for discriminating survival in CP grade A patients with HCC.