Background: The relationship between serum carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) and postoperative prognosis in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) has not been reported.
Methods: Data of 5410 consecutive HCC patients who underwent hepatectomy was retrospectively reviewed. Survival curves for overall survival (OS) and tumor recurrence (TR) were depicted using the Kaplan-Meier method and compared using the log-rank test. Independent risk factors of OS and TR were analyzed with Cox hazard regression model. Besides, a one-to-one propensity score-matched (PSM) subset was performed to reduce selection bias. Subgroup analysis was done according to hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection or not.
Results: Serum CEA ≥5.1 μg/L was an independent risk factor of OS and TR in the entire cohort and PSM subset (OS-hazard ratio = 1.218, 95 % confidence interval = 1.060-1.400; 1.383, 1.133-1.688, respectively; TR-1.256, 1.114-1.417; 1.258, 1.067-1.484, respectively). Subgroup analysis showed that CEA ≥5.1 μg/L was an independent risk factor of OS and TR in the HBV infection group (OS-1.234, 1.065-1.429; TR-1.231, 1.083-1.399) but not in the non-HBV infection group (OS-1.376, 0.895-2.117; TR-1.437, 0.989-2.088).
Conclusion: Serum CEA ≥5.1 μg/L was an independent risk factor of OS and TR of HCC patients, and patients with CEA ≥5.1 μg/L had poorer prognosis, especially for HCC patients with HBV infection.
【저자키워드】 Prognosis, Carcinoembryonic antigen, Hepatocellular carcinoma, Tumor marker.,