Utility of Alpha-Fetoprotein and Ultrasound in the Diagnosis and Prognosis of Patients with Hepatocellular Liver Cancer

Dongfang Huang,1– 3 Jianhuai Zhang,3 Jianbo Xu,3 Qiang Niu,2 Dinghua Zhou2 1Department of Hepatobiliary Surgery, Medical College of Soochow University, Suzhou, People’s Republic of China; 2Department of Hepatobiliary Surgery, PLA Rocket Force Characteristic Medical Center, Beijing, People’s Republic of China; 3Department of Hepatobiliary Surgery, The Affiliated Huaian No.1 People’s Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, Huaian, People’s Republic of ChinaCorrespondence: Dinghua Zhou, Department of Hepatobiliary Surgery, PLA Rocket Force Characteristic Medical Center, No. 16 Xinjiekou Outer Street, Xicheng District, Beijing, 100088, People’s Republic of China, Tel +86 010-66343003, Fax +86 010-66343055, Email zhoudinghua3528@126.comObjective: To investigate the utility of alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) and ultrasound in the diagnosis and prognosis of patients with hepatocellular liver cancer (HCC).Methods: Using retrospective convenience sampling, 401 patients with HCC who underwent transarterial chemoembolisation at the Department of Oncology of The Affiliated Huaian No.1 People’s Hospital of Nanjing Medical University between June 2015 and January 2020 were recruited and assigned to the case group. Simultaneously, patients matched to the case group in terms of gender and age but excluded for HCC were enrolled at a 1:1 ratio and classified as the control group. Relevant parameters were collected from both groups for comparison.Results: Both AFP levels and ultrasound results demonstrated diagnostic value for patients with HCC (P < 0.05). Their combined use exhibited the highest diagnostic accuracy for the cancer, with an area under the curve of 0.896 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.876, 0.923), a sensitivity of 67.65% and a specificity of 91.22%. In terms of overall survival (OS), statistically significant differences in the OS rates were observed between the low-AFP (L-AFP) group and high-AFP (H-AFP) group as well as between the low-tumour-diameter (LTD) group and high-tumour-diameter (HTD) group (81.31% vs 52.22% and 85.11% vs 63.41%, respectively; P < 0.05). Regarding the progression-free survival (PFS), significant differences in the PFS rates were also noted between the L-AFP and H-AFP groups and between the LTD and HTD groups (81.31% vs 52.22% and 85.11% vs 63.41%, respectively; P < 0.05).Conclusion: Ultrasound and AFP display notable distinctions when used in the diagnosis of HCC. The sensitivity of ultrasound as a standalone diagnostic tool surpasses that of AFP alone. However, their combined use results in much higher specificity than the use of either test individually. In addition, both techniques hold predictive value for patients’ OS and PFS, enabling timely prognostic assessment.Keywords: alpha-fetoprotein, hepatocellular liver cancer, ultrasound, survival analysis, prognosis