title: Sensitivity and specificity of des-gamma-carboxy prothrombin for diagnosis of patients with hepatocellular carcinomas varies according to tumor size.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Serum levels of des-gamma-carboxy prothrombin (DCP) and alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) are known to be useful tumor markers for the diagnosis of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). The aim of this study was to examine the diagnostic efficacy of DCP and AFP in differentiating HCC from chronic liver diseases.
  
  
  METHODS
  We examined 1,377 HCC patients and 355 patients with chronic hepatitis or cirrhosis (non-HCC) who visited our institute and affiliated hospitals between June 1997 and September 2003.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The median values of DCP and AFP were 60 mAU/mL and 34 ng/mL in HCC patients, respectively, and 18 mAU/mL and 3 ng/mL in non-HCC patients, respectively. The areas under the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves of DCP and AFP were 0.812 and 0.887, respectively (p < 0.0001). The area under the DCP ROC curve was significantly smaller than that of AFP in tumors less than 3 cm in diameter (p < 0.0001). However, the ROC area of DCP was significantly larger than that of AFP in tumors greater than 5 cm in diameter (p < 0.0001).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The utility of DCP for the diagnosis of HCC was lower than that of AFP for small tumors, but higher than that of AFP for large tumors.
authors.affiliation: Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Okayama University Graduate School of Medicine and Dentistry, Okayama, Japan.
authors.forename: Shinichiro
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Nakamura
authors.forename: Kazuhiro
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Nouso
authors.forename: Kohsaku
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Sakaguchi
authors.forename: Yoichi M
authors.initials: YM
authors.lastname: Ito
authors.forename: Yasuo
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Ohashi
authors.forename: Yoshiyuki
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Kobayashi
authors.forename: Nobuyuki
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Toshikuni
authors.forename: Hironori
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Tanaka
authors.forename: Yasuhiro
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Miyake
authors.forename: Eiji
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Matsumoto
authors.forename: Yasushi
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Shiratori
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000097:blood*; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000097:blood*; D006528:Carcinoma, Hepatocellular / Q000097:blood / Q000175:diagnosis*; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D005260:Female; D006521:Hepatitis, Chronic / Q000097:blood / Q000175:diagnosis; D006801:Humans; D007124:Immunoenzyme Techniques; D008103:Liver Cirrhosis / Q000097:blood / Q000175:diagnosis; D008113:Liver Neoplasms / Q000097:blood / Q000175:diagnosis*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009367:Neoplasm Staging / Q000379:methods; D011498:Protein Precursors / Q000097:blood*; D011516:Prothrombin; D012372:ROC Curve; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D000509:alpha-Fetoproteins / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; D011498:Protein Precursors; D000509:alpha-Fetoproteins; C008208:acarboxyprothrombin; D011516:Prothrombin