ABSTRACT
Objective:To study the correlation between liver imaging reporting and data system (LI-RADS) category with tumor differentiation, Ki67 index, microvascular infiltration, and predictive prognosis in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).Methods:We retrospectively analyzed the clinical and radiological data of 178 patients with HCC who were confirmed by histopathological studies after liver resection between January 2015 and September 2020 at Lishui Central Hospital and Lishui People’s Hospital. There were 156 males and 22 females, with age of (57±10) years old. These patients were assessed for LI-RADS categories according to the 2018 version of LI-RADS, and they were divided into 4 groups according to the assessment results: 12 patients with LI-RADS-3 (the LI-RADS-3 group); 26 patients with LI-RADS-4 (the LI-RADS-4 group); 102 patients with LI-RADS-5 (the LI-RADS-5 group); and 38 patients with LI-RADS-M (the LI-RADS-M group). The patients' general information, tumor markers, pathology and other clinical data were recorded. Correlation analysis between the LI-RADS category with pathology was performed by the Kendall's tau-b test. Survival analysis between groups was performed by the Kaplan-Meier analysis. The Cox regression risk model was used to analyze the relationship between these variables with the risk of death.Results:The Kendall's tau-b test showed that LI-RADS category was positively correlated with the degree of tumor differentiation ( t=0.204, P=0.002), but not with microvascular infiltration and Ki 67 index ( P>0.05). All patients were followed up for 4.2 to 84.2 months (median follow-up 36.3 months). By the end of follow-up, 31 patients had died and 147 patients were alive. The cumulative 1-year and 3-year survival rates of the LI-RADS-5 group were 97% and 90% respectively, which were significantly higher than those in the LI-RADS-M group (81% and 63%), and the LI-RADS-4 group (96% and 81%), ( P<0.05). The cumulative 1-year and 3-year survival rates of patients in the LI-RADS-3 group were 100% and 67% respectively, and there was no statistically significant difference with the LI-RADS-5 group ( P>0.05). The Cox multivariate regression analysis showed that tumor glycoantigen 199 (>50 μl/ml) to be an independent influencing factor in survival of HCC patients ( HR=0.43, 95% CI: 0.24-0.76, P=0.004). Conclusion:The LI-RADS category of HCC was positively correlated with the degree of tumor differentiation, and patients with HCC meeting the LI-RADS-5 criteria had relatively better prognosis.