title: Elevated red blood cell distribution width is associated with liver function tests in patients with primary hepatocellular carcinoma.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Red blood cell distribution width (RDW), a routinely tested parameter of the complete blood count (CBC), has been reported to be increased in various cancers and correlated with the patients' clinical characteristics. However, the significance of RDW in primary hepatocellular carcinoma (pHCC) is largely unknown. The aim of this study was to evaluate the associations between RDW and the clinical characteristics of pHCC patients.
  
  
  METHODS
  Medical records of 110 treatment-naive pHCC patients were retrospectively reviewed. Their clinical characteristics on admission, including RDW, liver function tests and tumor stage, were extracted, and their relationships were analyzed using Spearman correlation and Kruskal-Wallis test. Sixty-eight healthy individuals were set as controls.
  
  
  RESULTS
  RDW was significantly increased in pHCC patients and correlated with the liver function tests. However, no correlation between RDW and tumor stage was found.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  RDW may be used to assess the liver function, but not the tumor stage in pHCC patients.
authors.forename: Ting-Ting
authors.initials: TT
authors.lastname: Wei
authors.forename: Qing-Qin
authors.initials: QQ
authors.lastname: Tang
authors.forename: Bao-Dong
authors.initials: BD
authors.lastname: Qin
authors.forename: Ning
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Ma
authors.forename: Li-Li
authors.initials: LL
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Lin
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.forename: Ren-Qian
authors.initials: RQ
authors.lastname: Zhong
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D006528:Carcinoma, Hepatocellular / Q000097:blood*; D004909:Erythrocyte Indices / Q000276:immunology*; D004912:Erythrocytes / Q000166:cytology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008111:Liver Function Tests / Q000379:methods*; D008113:Liver Neoplasms / Q000097:blood*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012189:Retrospective Studies
keywords: Child-Pugh stage; Red blood cell distribution width; hepatocellular carcinoma; liver function