This study aimed to identify radiomic features of primary tumor and develop a model for indicating extrahepatic metastasis of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Contrast-enhanced computed tomographic ...(CT) images of 177 HCC cases, including 26 metastatic (MET) and 151 non-metastatic (non-MET), were retrospectively collected and analyzed. For each case, 851 radiomic features, which quantify shape, intensity, texture, and heterogeneity within the segmented volume of the largest HCC tumor in arterial phase, were extracted using Pyradiomics. The dataset was randomly split into training and test sets. Synthetic Minority Oversampling Technique (SMOTE) was performed to augment the training set to 145 MET and 145 non-MET cases. The test set consists of six MET and six non-MET cases. The external validation set is comprised of 20 MET and 25 non-MET cases collected from an independent clinical unit. Logistic regression and support vector machine (SVM) models were identified based on the features selected using the stepwise forward method while the deep convolution neural network, visual geometry group 16 (VGG16), was trained using CT images directly. Grey-level size zone matrix (GLSZM) features constitute four of eight selected predictors of metastasis due to their perceptiveness to the tumor heterogeneity. The radiomic logistic regression model yielded an area under receiver operating characteristic curve (AUROC) of 0.944 on the test set and an AUROC of 0.744 on the external validation set. Logistic regression revealed no significant difference with SVM in the performance and outperformed VGG16 significantly. As extrahepatic metastasis workups, such as chest CT and bone scintigraphy, are standard but exhaustive, radiomic model facilitates a cost-effective method for stratifying HCC patients into eligibility groups of these workups.
BACKGROUNDThere is currently limited data regarding the use of oral antiviral therapy alone without hepatitis B immune globulin for chronic hepatitis B patients with preexisting lamivudine (LAM) ...resistance (LAM-R) undergoing liver transplantation.
METHODSThis is a cohort study determining the effectiveness and long-term outcome in this group of patients.
RESULTSFifty-seven consecutive chronic hepatitis B patients with preexisting rt204 LAM-R mutations or virological load refractory to LAM undergoing liver transplantation were included, with a median follow-up of 73 months. Fifty-five (96.5%) patients received a regimen that included the use of nucleotide analogs. The cumulative rate of hepatitis B surface antigen seroclearance at 1, 5, and 10 years was 82%, 88%, and 91%, respectively. At the time of transplantation, 39 (72%) patients had detectable hepatitis B virus (HBV) DNA, with a median of 4.5 log copies/mL. The cumulative rate of HBV undetectability was 91% at 1 year, increasing to 100% by 5 years. After 1 year of liver transplantation, over 90% of the patients had undetectable HBV DNA, and from 8 years onward, 100% had undetectable HBV DNA. The overall long-term survival was excellent, with a 12-year survival of 87%. There was no HBV-related graft loss, and no retransplantation or deaths due to HBV reactivation.
CONCLUSIONOral antiviral therapy alone without hepatitis B immune globulin is highly effective in preventing HBV reactivation and graft loss from recurrent hepatitis B after liver transplantation in patients with preexisting LAM resistance HBV. The long-term outcome was excellent, with survival of 87% at 12 years after transplantation, without any mortality related to HBV reactivation.
Aim:Recurrence of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) after liver transplantation (LT) for chronic hepatitis B (CHB) can be associated with reappearance of hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg). The current ...study determined the significance of HBsAg qualitatively and quantitatively using a highly sensitive assay in recurrent HCC after transplantation. Methods:Consecutive patients with HBV-related HCC with LT were included. Oral nucleos(t)ide analogues without hepatitis B immune globulin were used as hepatitis B virus (HBV) prophylaxis. Quantitative HBsAg levels were performed at time of transplant, at 1 month, 3 and 6 months post transplant using a highly sensitive (hs)-HBsAg assay. Results:One hundred and fourteen patients were included, with a median follow-up of 80 months, with 24 cases of HCC recurrence, and a cumulative rate of 20.7％ at 5 years. There was significant correlation between time of tumor recurrence and time of HBsAg reappearance (r = 0.551,P = 0.027). Early HCC recurrence was associated with higher median level of hs-HBsAg at the time of transplant (72.85vs. 69.70 IU/mL,P = 0.018). Using a hs-HBsAg cut-off level of 0.0005 IU/mL, patients with levels above this threshold at 3 and 6 months were associated with higher rate of early HCC recurrence (28.6％vs. 3.0％ and 26.9％vs. 2.9％ respectively, bothP =0.0006). There was no significant difference in HCC recurrence between positive and negative HBsAg using the conventional qualitative HBsAg assay. Conclusion:Serum hs-HBsAg levels of≥ 0.0005 IU/mL at 3 to 6 months after LT is associated with higher rates of early HCC recurrence, and may be useful as an early tumor marker.
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