title: Evaluation of tumor markers for the detection of hepatocellular carcinoma in Yangon General Hospital, Myanmar.
abstract: Levels of alpha-fetoprotein (AFP), its glycoforms AFP-L3 and AFP-P4, and proteins induced by vitamin K absence or antagonist-II (PIVKA-II) were determined in sera obtained from patients in Yangon General Hospital (20 with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), 29 with chronic liver diseases, including 3 with chronic hepatitis and 26 with cirrhosis of the liver, and 9 with other hepatobiliary diseases). Forty-five percent of the patients with HCC had serum AFP levels above 10,000 ng/ml, indicating that nearly half of the HCC patients were at an advanced stage of the disease. Thus, the AFP sensitivity was as high as 70% with 100% specificity for a cutoff level of 200 ng/ml. The sensitivity of AFP-L3 was 75% and a specificity 90% for a cutoff level of 15%. AFP-P4 showed a higher sensitivity of 80% and a similar specificity of 86% for a cutoff level of 12%. Combined evaluation of AFP-L3 and/or AFP-P4 increased the sensitivity to 90% with the same specificity of 86%, indicating that AFP-L3 and AFP-P4 are useful as adjuncts for diagnosis of HCC in the present population. PIVKA-II had a high sensitivity of 90%, although the specificity was lower than 45%, probably due to the low cutoff level, as some cholestatic patients were included in the control group.
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, Ibara City Hospital, Ibara 715-0019, Japan. ibarahp@oka.urban.ne.jp
authors.forename: Kazuhisa
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Taketa
authors.forename: Shigeru
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Okada
authors.forename: Ne
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Win
authors.forename: Naomi Khaing Than
authors.initials: NK
authors.lastname: Hlaing
authors.forename: Khin Maung
authors.initials: KM
authors.lastname: Wind
mesh_terms: D015415:Biomarkers; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000097:blood*; D006528:Carcinoma, Hepatocellular / Q000175:diagnosis*; D006801:Humans; D008113:Liver Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis*; D011498:Protein Precursors / Q000097:blood*; D011516:Prothrombin; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D000509:alpha-Fetoproteins / Q000032:analysis*
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; D011498:Protein Precursors; D000509:alpha-Fetoproteins; C008208:acarboxyprothrombin; D011516:Prothrombin