title: Validation of a Modified Substaging System (Kinki Criteria) for Patients with Intermediate-Stage Hepatocellular Carcinoma.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Barcelona Clinic Liver Cancer (BCLC) stage B, an intermediate stage, includes various conditions of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). This heterogeneity of the patients with intermediate-stage HCC makes it difficult to predict their survival rates. In the present study, we examined the validity of the modified Bolondi classification (Kinki criteria) as a subclassification of patients with BCLC stage B HCC.
  
  
  METHODS
  Of 906 patients who underwent conventional transarterial chemoembolization at Kinki University Hospital, 753, who met the inclusion criteria, were examined. Of these 753 patients, 425 (56.4%) with BCLC stage B were subclassified using the Kinki criteria to examine the survival rate.
  
  
  RESULTS
  According to the Kinki criteria, 158 (37.2%) were subclassified into subclass B1, 236 (55.5%) into B2, and 31 (7.3%) into B3. The comparison of the survival rates showed that the median overall survival was 3.9 years (95% CI, 3.2-4.6) in the BCLC subclass B1 group, 2.5 years (95% CI, 2.2-3.1) in the B2 group, and 1.1 years (95% CI, 0.6-1.5) in the B3 group (p < 0.001).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  When the BCLC stage B patients were subclassified according to the Kinki criteria, survival curves were stratified with significant differences, suggesting that the Kinki criteria were suitable for the subclassification of the intermediate-stage HCC patients.
authors.affiliation: Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Faculty of Medicine, Kinki University, Osaka-Sayama, Japan.
authors.forename: Tadaaki
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Arizumi
authors.forename: Kazuomi
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Ueshima
authors.forename: Mina
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Iwanishi
authors.forename: Tomohiro
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Minami
authors.forename: Hirokazu
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Chishina
authors.forename: Masashi
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kono
authors.forename: Masahiro
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Takita
authors.forename: Satoshi
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kitai
authors.forename: Tatsuo
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Inoue
authors.forename: Norihisa
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Yada
authors.forename: Satoru
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Hagiwara
authors.forename: Hiroshi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Ida
authors.forename: Yasunori
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Minami
authors.forename: Toshiharu
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Sakurai
authors.forename: Masayuki
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kitano
authors.forename: Naoshi
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Nishida
authors.forename: Masatoshi
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kudo
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D006528:Carcinoma, Hepatocellular / Q000145:classification* / Q000401:mortality* / Q000473:pathology / Q000628:therapy; D016461:Chemoembolization, Therapeutic; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008111:Liver Function Tests; D008113:Liver Neoplasms / Q000145:classification* / Q000401:mortality* / Q000473:pathology / Q000628:therapy; D008297:Male; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D011379:Prognosis; D016016:Proportional Hazards Models; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D015996:Survival Rate