title: Preoperative mean corpuscular hemoglobin affecting long-term outcomes of hepatectomized patients with hepatocellular carcinoma.
abstract: Pretreatment anemia has been reported to be associated with survival in several solid tumor types. In terms of survival, only limited data on the hemoglobin (HGB) level in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) have been published and no data on mean corpuscular hemoglobin (MCH) level in HCC is available. The present study sought to examine the role of HGB and MCH levels in predicting long-term survival of patients with HCC who undergo resection. A retrospective study of 399 consecutive patients (1987-1994) who underwent hepatic resection for HCC in Sun Yat-Sen University Cancer Centre was performed. Serum HGB and MCH levels were examined preoperatively, and their prognostic capabilities were evaluated by Cox's proportional hazard model. Among the whole cohort, the HGB level appeared to be positively correlated with the MCH level (P<0.001). Survival analysis revealed that low levels of HGB (P=0.007) and MCH (P<0.001) were correlated with shorter overall survival (OS). Multivariate analysis revealed that MCH level was independently associated with OS (P<0.001), however, not HGB (P=0.278). In addition, 129 patients with large HCC (≥10 cm) tended to have a poorer OS (P<0.001) when compared with patients with smaller HCC. On subanalysis of patients with large HCC, MCH level also retained its stratified significance (P=0.001). Along with common clinicopathological variables, these results suggested that MCH, however, not HGB, may be useful in assessing prognosis for patients with HCC who undergo hepatectomy, particularly in identifying patients with large HCC who are most likely benefit from resection.
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Oncology in South China, Department of Hepatobiliary Oncology, Sun Yat-Sen University Cancer Center, Guangzhou, Guangdong 510060, P.R. China; Gastrointestinal Institute and Department of Colorectal Surgery, The Sixth Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou, Guangdong 510655, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Pinzhu
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.affiliation: Department of Hepatobiliary Surgery, Affiliated Zhongshan Hospital, Sun Yat-Sen University, Zhongshan, Guangdong 528403, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Chunhong
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Oncology in South China, Department of Hepatobiliary Oncology, Sun Yat-Sen University Cancer Center, Guangzhou, Guangdong 510060, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Binkui
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Oncology in South China, Department of Hepatobiliary Oncology, Sun Yat-Sen University Cancer Center, Guangzhou, Guangdong 510060, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Yun
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zheng
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Oncology in South China, Department of Hepatobiliary Oncology, Sun Yat-Sen University Cancer Center, Guangzhou, Guangdong 510060, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Ruhai
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Zou
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Oncology in South China, Department of Hepatobiliary Oncology, Sun Yat-Sen University Cancer Center, Guangzhou, Guangdong 510060, P.R. China; Gastrointestinal Institute and Department of Colorectal Surgery, The Sixth Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou, Guangdong 510655, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Jun
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.affiliation: Department of Hepatobiliary Surgery, Affiliated Zhongshan Hospital, Sun Yat-Sen University, Zhongshan, Guangdong 528403, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Zemin
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Hu
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Oncology in South China, Department of Hepatobiliary Oncology, Sun Yat-Sen University Cancer Center, Guangzhou, Guangdong 510060, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Yunfei
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Yuan
keywords: hemoglobin; hepatocellular carcinoma; mean corpuscular hemoglobin; prognosis