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Using the Controlling Nutritional Status (CONUT) Score for Evaluating Patients with Early-Stage Hepatocellular Carcinoma After Radiofrequency Ablation: A Two-Center Retrospective Study

  • Clinical Investigation
  • INTERVENTIONAL ONCOLOGY
  • Published:
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Abstract

Purpose

To estimate the prognostic significance of the controlling nutritional status (CONUT) in patients with BCLC stage A hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) after radiofrequency ablation (RFA).

Materials and Methods

From January 2013 to December 2016, 325 patients with BCLC stage A HCC who underwent RFA at the National Cancer Center and First Hospital of Shanxi Medical University were retrospectively studied. The patients were divided into low (≤ 4) and high (≥ 5) CONUT scores for assessment of overall survival (OS) and recurrence-free survival (RFS). Several covariates, including age, sex, the diameter and number of lesions, lesion differentiation, Child–Pugh class, hepatitis B virus infection, along with blood levels of AFP, AST, ALT, γ-GT, and TBIL, were assessed using univariate and multivariate analyses.

Results

The mortality rate was 17.49% (46/263) and 35.48% (22/62) in the low and high CONUT groups, respectively, with the difference being statistically significant (P = 0.033). In addition, disease recurrence was significantly higher in the high CONUT group at 70.97%, as compared to the low CONUT group at 43.35% (P = 0.041). The predictive factors were used to build the nomogram to estimate 1-, 3- and 5-year OS and RFS rates.

Conclusions

CONUT scores were found to be associated with the prognosis of patients with early-stage HCC who underwent RFA. Higher CONUT scores were associated with poor survival outcomes.

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Funding

This work was funded by National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 30970839 and 31170957) and Reasarch Project of Shanxi Province Health Commission (No. 2017045).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Interventional Therapy, National Cancer Center/National Clinical Research Center for Cancer/Cancer Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College, Beijing, 100021, China

    Yi Chen, Yi Yang, Yu-Jing Xin, Ya-Nan Wang, Xiao Li & Xiang Zhou

  2. Department of Interventional Radiology, First Hospital of Shanxi Medical University, Taiyuan, 030001, Shanxi Province, China

    Yi Chen, Chao Zhao & Dui-Ping Feng

Authors
  1. Yi Chen
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  2. Chao Zhao
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  3. Yi Yang
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  4. Yu-Jing Xin
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  6. Xiao Li
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  7. Xiang Zhou
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Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Xiang Zhou or Dui-Ping Feng.

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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Ethical Standards

This study was approved by the Ethics Committee of National Cancer Center/National Clinical Research Center for Cancer/Cancer Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College and the Ethics Committee of First Hospital of Shanxi Medical University. All patients were required to provide written informed consent before inclusion in the study.

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Chen, Y., Zhao, C., Yang, Y. et al. Using the Controlling Nutritional Status (CONUT) Score for Evaluating Patients with Early-Stage Hepatocellular Carcinoma After Radiofrequency Ablation: A Two-Center Retrospective Study. Cardiovasc Intervent Radiol 43, 1294–1304 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00270-020-02519-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00270-020-02519-0

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