Establishment, validation and evaluation of predictive model for early relapse after R0 resection in hepatocellular carcinoma patients with microvascular invasion

BACKGROUNDS: This is the first study to build and evaluate a predictive model for early relapse after R0 resection in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) patients with microvascular invasion (MVI). METHODS: The consecutive HCC patients with MVI who underwent hepatectomy in Cancer Hospital of Chinese Academy of Medical Science from Jan 2014 to June 2019 were retrospectively enrolled and randomly allocated into a derivation (N = 286) and validation cohort (N = 120) in a ratio of 7:3. Cox regression and Logistic regression analyses were performed and a predictive model for postoperative early-relapse were developed. RESULTS: A total of 406 HCC patients with MVI were included in our work. Preoperative blood alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) level, hepatitis B e antigen (HBeAg) status, MVI classification, largest tumor diameter, the status of serosal invasion, number of tumors, and the status of satellite nodules were incorporated to construct a model. The concordance index (C-index) was 0.737 and 0.736 in the derivation and validation cohort, respectively. The calibration curves showed a good agreement between actual observation and nomogram prediction. The C-index of the nomogram was obviously higher than those of the two traditional HCC staging systems. CONCLUSION: We have developed and validated a prediction model for postoperative early-relapse in HCC patient with MVI after R0 resection. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12967-021-02940-0.