Association of Tumor Grade With Long-Term Survival in Patients With Hepatocellular Carcinoma After Liver Transplantation

Development of an artificial intelligence-based model to predict early recurrence of neuroendocrine liver metastasis after resection

PURPOSE

We sought to develop an artificial intelligence (AI)-based model to predict early recurrence (ER) after curative-intent resection of neuroendocrine liver metastases (NELMs).

METHODS

Patients with NELM who underwent resection were identified from a multi-institutional database. ER was defined as recurrence within 12 months of surgery. Different AI-based models were developed to predict ER using 10 clinicopathologic factors.

RESULTS

Overall, 473 patients with NELM were included. Among 284 patients with recurrence (60.0%), 118 patients (41.5%) developed an ER. An ensemble AI model demonstrated the highest area under receiver operating characteristic curves of 0.763 and 0.716 in the training and testing cohorts, respectively. Maximum diameter of the primary neuroendocrine tumor, NELM radiologic tumor burden score, and bilateral liver involvement were the factors most strongly associated with risk of NELM ER. Patients predicted to develop ER had worse 5-year recurrence-free survival and overall survival (21.4% vs 37.1% [P = .002] and 61.6% vs 90.3% [P = .03], respectively) than patients not predicted to recur. An easy-to-use tool was made available online: (https://altaf-pawlik-nelm-earlyrecurrence-calculator.streamlit.app/).

CONCLUSION

An AI-based model demonstrated excellent discrimination to predict ER of NELM after resection. The model may help identify patients who can benefit the most from curative-intent resection, risk stratify patients according to prognosis, as well as guide tailored surveillance and treatment decisions including consideration of nonsurgical treatment options.

Correlation Between Indocyanine Green Fluorescence Patterns and Grade of Differentiation of Hepatocellular Carcinoma: A Western Prospective Cohort Study

Background. Most of the available evidence on the use of indocyanine green (ICG) fluorescence in clinical practice consists of articles published by surgeons of the Asian-Pacific area. We performed a prospective cohort study to assess the patterns of ICG fluorescence in Western hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) counterparts.Methods. From April 2019 to January 2022, a total of 31 consecutive patients who underwent laparoscopic liver resection (LLR) for superficial HCC were enrolled in this prospective study. All patients underwent laparoscopic staging with both laparoscopic ultrasound (LUS) and ICG fluorescence imaging.Results. A total of 38 hepatocellular carcinomas (HCCs) were enrolled: 23 superficial (surfacing at the liver's Glissonian capsule), 5 exophytic, 5 shallow (<8 mm from the hepatic surface) and 5 deep (>10 mm from the hepatic surface). The detection rate with preoperative imaging (abdominal CT/MRI), LUS, ICG fluorescence and combined modalities (ICG and LUS) was 97.4%, 94.9%, 89.7% and 100%, respectively. The five deep seated lesions underwent ultrasound-guided laparoscopic thermal ablation. The other 33 HCCs were treated with minimally invasive liver resection. Intraoperative ultrasound patterns were registered for each single nodule resected. The ICG fluorescence pattern was classified in two types: total fluorescence (all the tumoral tissue showed strong and homogeneous fluorescence), n = 9/33 (27.3%), and non-total fluorescence (partial and rim fluorescence), n = 24/33 (72.7%). There was a statistical correlation between ICG patterns and grade of differentiation. Almost all lesions with uniform fluorescence pattern were well-differentiated HCCs (G1-G2), while partial and rim-type fluorescence pattern were more common among moderately and poorly differentiated HCCs (G3-G4) (88.9% vs 11.1%, 37.5% vs 62.5%, P = .025, respectively).Conclusions. ICG fluorescence imaging could be used to identify early the grade of HCC, ie intraoperatively, thus influencing the intraoperative treatment.

High expression of serine and arginine-rich splicing factor 9 (SRSF9) is associated with hepatocellular carcinoma progression and a poor prognosis

BACKGROUND

Serine and arginine-rich splicing factor 9 (SRSF9) has been linked to the occurrence and progression of various cancers; however, its effects and mechanism of action hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) have not been reported. In this study, we used a bioinformatics approach and in vitro assays to evaluate the expression of SRSF9 in HCC, its prognostic value, and its underlying regulatory mechanisms, including analyses of related pathways and the role of methylation.

METHODS

Transcriptomic and DNA methylation data for 357 HCC cases and 50 paratumor tissues in The Cancer Genome Atlas database were obtained. Additionally, protein expression data for cell lines and tissue samples were obtained from the Human Protein Atlas. The CMap databased was used to predict candidate drugs targeting SRSF9. Various cell lines were used for in vitro validation.

RESULTS

SRSF9 expression was significantly elevated in HCC and was negatively regulated by its methylation site cg06116271. The low expression of SRSF9 and hypermethylation of cg06116271 were both associated with a longer overall survival time. A correlation analysis revealed ten genes that were co-expressed with SRSF9; levels of CDK4, RAN, DENR, RNF34, and ANAPC5 were positively correlated and levels of RBP4, APOC1, MASP2, HP, and HPX were negatively correlated with SRSF9 expression. The knockdown of SRSF9 in vitro inhibited the proliferation and migration of HCC cells and significantly reduced the expression of proteins in the Wnt signaling pathway (DVL2 and β-catenin) and cell cycle pathway (Cyclin D and Cyclin E). A CMap analysis identified two drugs, camptothecin and apigenin, able to target and inhibit the expression of SRSF9.

CONCLUSIONS

This study expands our understanding of the molecular biological functions of SRSF9 and cg06116271 and provides candidate diagnostic and therapeutic targets for HCC.

Poorly differentiated hepatocellular carcinoma: resection is equivalent to transplantation in patients with low liver fibrosis

BACKGROUND

Organ allocation criteria for liver transplantation focus on tumor size and multifocality while tumor differentiation and existing liver damage are omitted. This study analyzes the impact of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) grade and liver fibrosis comparing resection (SX) to transplantation (LT).

METHODS

The National Cancer Database was queried between 2004 and 2016 for solitary HCC meeting Milan criteria undergoing SX vs LT. Two groups were created: low fibrosis (LF) vs high fibrosis (HF) and stratified by grade. Cox multivariable regression models, Kaplan-Meier survival analyses and log-rank tests were performed.

RESULTS

1515 patients were identified; 780 had LT and 735 had SX. Median overall survival (mOS) was 39.7 months; LT mOS was 47.9 months vs SX mOS of 34.9 months (P < .001). Multivariate analysis revealed SX, no chemotherapy, longer hospital stays, and age to be associated with worse survival. However, while transplantation conferred survival benefit for well-moderately differentiated tumors, SX vs LT did not impact survival for poorly differentiated HCC in LF patients, independent of tumor size.

DISCUSSION

HCC differentiation and liver fibrosis, but not size, synergistically determine efficacy of SX vs LT. Therefore, current HCC transplantation criteria should incorporate tumor grade or liver fibrosis for optimal organ allocation.

Nomogram based on inflammation-related markers for predicting survival of patients undergoing hepatectomy for hepatocellular carcinoma

BACKGROUND

Previous nomograms for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) did not include the neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) or platelet-to-lymphocyte ratio (PLR). This study aimed to establish an effective nomogram capable of estimating the association between preoperative inflammatory factors and overall survival (OS) of HCC patients after hepatectomy.

AIM

To analyse the factors affecting the prognosis of HCC and establish a nomogram.

METHODS

A total of 626 HCC patients (410 training set patients from the First Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical University and 216 validation set patients from the First Affiliated Hospital of University of Science and Technology of China) underwent hepatectomy from January 2014 to December 2017 and were followed up every 3–6 mo. The nomogram was based on OS-related independent risk factors identified by Cox regression analysis. The C-index, calibration curve, and area under the curve (AUC) were used to evaluate the nomogram’s accuracy.

RESULTS

The 1-, 2- and 3-year OS rates were 79.0%, 68.0% and 45.4% in the training cohort (median OS = 34 mo) and 92.1%, 73.9% and 51.2% in the validation cohort (median OS = 38 mo). Higher α-fetoprotein [hazard ratio (HR) = 1.812, 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.343–2.444], NLR (HR = 2.480, 95%CI: 1.856–3.312) and PLR (HR = 1.974, 95%CI: 1.490–2.616), tumour size ≥ 5 cm (HR = 1.323, 95%CI: 1.002–1.747), and poor differentiation (HR = 3.207, 95%CI: 1.944–5.290) were significantly associated with shortened OS. The developed nomogram integrating these variables showed good reliability in both the training (C-index = 0.71) and validation cohorts (C-index = 0.75). For predicting 1-, 2- and 3-year OS, the nomogram had AUCs of 0.781, 0.743 and 0.706 in the training cohort and 0.789, 0.815 and 0.813 in the validation cohort. The nomogram was more accurate in predicting prognosis than the AJCC TNM staging system.

CONCLUSION

The prognostic nomogram combining pathological characteristics and inflammation indicators could provide a more accurate individualized risk estimate for the OS of HCC patients with hepatectomy.

Preoperative prediction of pathological grading of hepatocellular carcinoma using machine learning-based ultrasomics: A multicenter study

PURPOSE

The present study investigated the value of ultrasomics signatures in the preoperative prediction of the pathological grading of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) via machine learning.

METHODS

A total of 193 patients were collected from three hospitals. The patients from two hospitals (n = 160) were randomly divided into training set (n = 128) and test set (n = 32) at a 8:2 ratio. The patients from a third hospital were used as an independent validation set (n = 33). The ultrasomics features were extracted from the tumor lesions on the ultrasound images. Support vector machine (SVM) was used to construct three preoperative pathological grading models for HCC on each dataset. The performance of the three models was evaluated by area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC), sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy.

RESULTS

The ultrasomics signatures extracted from the grayscale ultrasound images could successfully differentiate between high- and low-grade HCC lesions on the training set, test set, and the independent validation set (p < 0.05). On the test set and the validation set, the combined model's performance was the highest, followed by the ultrasomics model and the clinical model successively (p < 0.05). Their AUC (along with 95 %CI) of these models was 0.874(0.709-0.964), 0.789(0.608-0.912), 0.720(0.534-0.863) and 0.849(0.682-0.949), 0.825(0.654-0.935), 0.770(0.591-0.898), respectively.

CONCLUSION

Machine learning-based ultrasomics signatures could be used for noninvasive preoperative prediction of pathological grading of HCC. The combined model displayed a better predictive performance for pathological grading of HCC and had a stronger generalization ability.

Micronvasive behaviour of single small hepatocellular carcinoma: which treatment?

BACKGROUND

Microinvasion (MI), defined as infiltration of the portal or hepatic vein or bile duct and intrahepatic metastasis are accurate indicators of a poor prognosis for mall hepatocellular carcinomas (HCC). A previous study showed that intraoperative ultrasound (IOUS) definition of MI-HCC had a high concordance with histological findings. Aim of this study is to evaluate overall survival and recurrence patterns of patients with MI-HCC submitted to hepatic resection (HR) or laparoscopic ablation therapies (LAT).

METHODS

A total of 171 consecutive patients (78 h; 93 LAT) with single, small HCC (< 3 cm) with a MI pattern at IOUS examination were compared analyzing overall survival and recurrence patterns using univariate and multivariate analysis and weighting by propensity score.

RESULTS

Overall recurrences were similar in the 2 groups (HR: 51 patients (65%); LAT: 66 patients (71%)). The rate of local tumor progression in the HR group was very low (5 pts; 6%) in comparison to LAT group (22 pts; 24%; p = 0.002). The overall survival curves of HR are significantly better than that of the LAT group (p = 0.0039). On the propensity score Cox model, overall mortality was predicted by the surgical treatment with a Hazard ratio 1.68 (1.08-2.623) (p = 0.022).

CONCLUSIONS

If technically feasible and in patients fit for surgery, HR with an adequate tumor margin should be preferred to LAT in patients with MI-HCC at IOUS evaluation, to eradicate MI features near the main nodule, which are relatively frequent even in small HCC (< 3 cm).

Diagnostic Value of Imaging Methods in the Histological Four Grading of Hepatocellular Carcinoma

We attempted to establish an ultrasound (US) imaging-diagnostic system for histopathological grades of differentiation of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). We conducted a retrospective study of histopathologically confirmed 200 HCCs, classified as early (45 lesions), well- (31 lesions), moderately (68 lesions) or poorly differentiated (diff.) (56 lesions) HCCs. We performed grayscale US to estimate the presence/absence of halo and mosaic signs, Sonazoid contrast-enhanced US (CEUS) to determine vascularity (hypo/iso/hyper) of lesion in arterial and portal phase (PP), and echogenicity of lesion in post-vascular phase (PVP). All findings were of significance for the diagnosis of some (but not all) histological grades (p < 0.001–0.05). Combined findings with a relatively high diagnostic efficacy for early, poorly and moderately diff. HCC were a combination of absence of halo sign and isoechogenicity in PVP of CEUS (accuracy: 93.0%, AUC: 0.908), hypovascularity in PP (accuracy: 78.0%, area under the curve (AUC): 0.750), and a combination of isovascularity in PP and hypoechogenicity in PVP (accuracy: 75.0%, AUC: 0.739), respectively. On the other hand, neither any individual finding nor any combination of findings yielded an AUC of over 0.657 for the diagnosis of well-diff. HCC. Our study provides encouraging data on Sonazoid CEUS in the histological differential diagnosis of HCC, especially in early HCC, and the effectiveness of this imaging method should be further proved by prospective, large sample, multicenter studies.

Do Elderly Patients With Stage I-II Hepatocellular Carcinoma Benefit From More Radical Surgeries? A Population-Based Analysis

Background and Aims: The best treatment modalities for elderly patients with stage I–II HCC (hepatocellular carcinoma) remain controversial in an era of a shortage of liver donors.

Methods: From the SEER database (Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results program), 2,371 elderly patients were sampled as Cohort 1. OS (Overall Survival) and CSS (Cancer-Specific Survival) were compared between the Non-surgery and Surgery groups. A stratification analysis in a CSS Cox model was also conducted among sub-groups, and propensity score matching was performed to generate Cohort 2 (746 pairs), reducing the influences of confounders.

Results: For Cohort 1, the median follow-up times of the Non-surgery and Surgery groups were 11 months (95% CI, confidence interval: 9.74–12.26) vs. 49 months (44.80–53.21) in OS, and 14 months (12.33–15.67) vs. 74 months (64.74–83.26) in CSS, respectively. In the stratification analysis, for the elderly patients (age >= 70 years), Larger Resection was associated with a higher HR (hazard ratio) than Segmental Resection: 0.30 (95% CI, confidence interval: 0.22–0.41) vs. 0.29 (0.21–0.38) in 70–74 year-olds; 0.26 (0.18–0.38) vs. 0.23 (0.16–0.32) in 75–79 year-olds; 0.32 (0.21–0.49) vs. 0.21 (0.13–0.32) in those 80+ years old. For Cohort 2, a similar result could be seen in the CSS Cox forest plot. The HRs of Larger Resection and Segmental Resection were 0.27 (0.21–0.33) and 0.25 (0.20–0.31), respectively.

Conclusions: It is cautiously recommended that, when liver transplantation is not available, segmental or wedge liver resection is the better treatment choice for elderly patients with stage I–II HCC (AJCC edition 6), especially those over 70 years old, compared with other surgeries, based on the SEER data.

Comparative effectiveness of primary tumor resection in patients with stage III pancreatic adenocarcinoma

BACKGROUND

Previous studies comparing primary tumor resection (PTR) to palliative treatment for advanced-stage pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDA) were limited by strong selection bias. We used multiple methods to control for confounding and selection bias to estimate the effect of PTR on survival for late-stage PDA.

METHODS

Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) 18 registry database for 2004 through 2014 was retrieved for the present study. A total of 4322 patients with stage III (AJCC, 6th) PDA were included in this study. Propensity score matching (PSM) was performed to eliminate possible bias. In addition, instrumental variable (IV) analysis was utilized to adjust for both measured and unmeasured confounders.

RESULTS

A total of 4322 patients with stage III PDA including 552 (12.8%) who underwent PTR, 3770 (87.2%) without PTR, were identified. In the multivariable cohort, a clear prognostic advantage of PTR was observed in overall survival (OS) (P < 0.001) and disease-specific survival (DSS) (P < 0.001) compared to patients after non-surgery therapy. In the PSM cohort, patients in PTR group showed a better OS and DSS (both P values < 0.001) compared to patients in non-surgery group. The survival benefit of PTR for stage III PDA was not observed in the two-stage residual inclusion (2SRI) model. Estimates based on this instrument indicated that patients treated with PTR had similar OS (P = 0.448) and DSS (P = 0.719). In IV analyses stratified by chemotherapy and tumor location, patients undergoing PTR had similar OS and DSS compared to patients in non-surgery group across all subgroups.

CONCLUSIONS

Survival with PTR did not differ significantly from palliative treatment in marginal patients with stage III pancreatic adenocarcinoma. High-quality randomized trials are needed to validate these results.