1

Baseline characteristics of patients undergoing MWA

CharacteristicsAllALBI grade 1ALBI grade 2P
Patients, n 1839588
Age (years)*64.6±9.163.9±9.065.4±9.20.253a
Gender0.392b
Male128 (69.9)67 (70.5)67 (69.3)
Female55 (30.1)28 (29.5)21 (30.7)
Tumor size (cm)†2.7 (0.7–5.0)2.8 (0.9–5.0)2.5 (0.7–5.0)0.256a
= 3121 (66.1)54 (61.4)67 (70.5)
> 362 (33.9)34 (38.6)28 (29.5)
Tumor number235130 (55.3)105 (44.7)0.170b
Single147 (80.3)80 (84.2)67 (76.1)
Multiple36 (19.7)15 (15.8)21 (23.9)
Comorbid disease0.034c
No108 (59)49 (51.6)59 (67)
Yes75 (41)46 (48.4)29 (33)
Pathological differentiation0.666b
Well/moderately152 (80.1)80 (84.2)72 (81.8)
Poorly31 (19.9)15 (15.8)16 (18.2)
Barcelona Clinic Liver Cancer grade0.214b
037 (20.2)30 (31.6)7 (8.0)
A132 (72.1)55 (57.9)77 (87.5)
B14 (7.7)10 (10.5)4 (4.5)
CTP grade0.066b
A175 (95.6)88 (92.6)87 (98.9)
B8 (4.4)7 (7.4)1 (1.1)
a-fetoprotein level (ng/mL) †14.9 (1.4–223.1)17.8 (2.2–223.1)12.4 (1.4–66.9)0.315a
Albumin level (µmol/L) †37.2 (12.6–54.1)38.9 (12.6–47.8)33.5 (13.9–54.1)0.782a
Total bilirubin level (µmol/L) †16.2 (4.3–51.6)11.2 (4.3–44.9)17.9 (5.1–51.6)0.812a
ALT level (U/L) †54.2 (7–234.6)43.7 (7–77.4)65.1 (8.9–234.6)0.032a
AST level (U/L) †60.1 (14.2–387.0)41.2 (14.7–221.3)78.2 (14.2–387.0)0.016a
GGT (U/L) †78.6 (15–307.9)43.1 (15–112.4)80.2 (17.8–307.9)0.009a
Prothrombin time international normalized ratio*1.1±0.1 (0.87–1.49)1.1±0.2 (0.87–1.38)1.1±0.1 (0.89–1.49)0.522a
Platelet count (109) † 102.5 (50–569)99.6 (55–569)105.1 (50–238)0.729a
Creatinine level (µmol/L) †84.6 (14.1–232.1)88.7 (15.7–201.9)72.1 (14.1–232.1)0.791a
Recurrence pattern
LTP only48 (26.2)28 (29.5)20 (22.7)0.418b
IDR only22 (12.0)14 (14.7)8 (9.1)0.117b
LTP +IDR15 (8.2)9 (9.5)6 (6.8)0.533b
Total85 (46.4)51 (53.7)34 (50)0.239b
Metastasis22 (12)14 (14.7)8 (9.1)0.102c
Technique effectiveness183 (100)95 (100)88 (100)1.000b
Major complications3 (1.6)1 (1.1)2 (2.3)0.609b

Unless otherwise indicated data are number of patients, with percentage in parentheses;a Student's t-test; b Pearson χ2-test; c Fisher’s exact test; * Data are means SD ± mean; † Data are medians, with data range. MWA, microwave ablation; IDR, intrahepatic distant recurrence; LTP, local tumor progression; ALBI, albumin- bilirubin; CTP, child-turcotte-pugh; ALT, alanine aminotransferase; AST, aspartate aminotransferase; GGT, γ-glutamyl transferase.