Prognostic Value of Platelet-Albumin-Bilirubin Grade in Child-Pugh A and B Patients With Hepatocellular Carcinoma: A Meta-Analysis

BACKGROUND: Numerous studies showed that preoperative platelet-albumin-bilirubin (PALBI) grade was closely related to the prognostic outcome of patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). However, the conclusions were inconsistent. Therefore, we implemented the study to comprehensively evaluate the association between PALBI grade and prognosis in patients with HCC. METHODS: Relevant articles were collected from the specified databases until February 10, 2022. We included all studies exploring the relationship between PALBI grade and prognosis in HCC patients. We used the hazard ratio (HR) and 95% confidence interval (CI) to calculate the comprehensive analysis. All data analyses were performed using STATA 12.0. RESULTS: Thirteen retrospective articles containing 15534 patients were included in the meta-analysis. The pooled results displayed that the high PALBI grade was obviously correlated with poor overall survival (OS) (HR: 1.71, 95% CI: 1.46-2.02) and disease-free survival/relapse-free survival (DFS/RFS) (HR:1.31; 95% CI: 1.11–1.54). Subgroup analyses further confirmed the reliability of the comprehensive results. CONCLUSIONS: PALBI may be a valid prognostic indicator in HCC patients. More investigations were needed to test our findings.