Study on the relationship between the degree of inflammatory injury and the occurrence of hepatocellular carcinoma in patients with chronic hepatitis B

Abstract

Objective To investigate the relationship between the degree of inflammatory injury and the occurrence of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) in patients with chronic hepatitis B. Methods Clinical data of 1 608 patients with chronic hepatitis B who admitted to the Third Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University between January 2004 and October 2014 were retrospectively analyzed. And all the follow-up data of the patients were complete. Among them, 1 292 were males and 316 were females, aged from 11 to 73 years old with a median age of 35 years old. The informed consents of all patients were obtained and the local ethical committee approval was received. Liver biopsy was performed on all patients. According to the degree of liver inflammatory injury, the patients were divided into G1, G2, G3 and G4 groups. The incidence and constituent ratio of HCC in four groups were observed. The ratio was compared using Chi-square test. Results Pathological examination showed that certain degree of inflammatory injury in the liver tissues were observed in all patients. Among the patients, 36.94% (594/1 608) were classified into the G1 group, 32.09% (516/1608) into the G2 group, 22.82% (367/1608) into the G3 group and 8.15% (131/1608) into the G4 group. Thirty-eight cases of HCC occurred during the follow-up with the incidence of 2.36% (38/1 608), including 0.34% (2/594) in G1 group, 2.32%(12/516) in G2 group, 5.72% (21/367) in G3 group and 2.29% (3/131) in G4 group. The incidence of HCC increased as the aggravation of the inflammatory injury degree in liver tissues. The incidence of HCC in G3 group was significantly higher than that in G1 group and G2 group (χ2=28.16, 6.88; P<0.05). The constituent ratio of HCC was different in each groups, and significant differences were observed between G1 group and G2 group, G1 group and G3 group, G1 group and G4 group, and G2 group and G3 group (χ2=8.77, 28.16, 5.98, 6.88; P<0.05). Conclusion The risk of the occurrence of HCC in patients with chronic hepatitis B is elevated along with the aggravation of the inflammatory injury degree. Key words: Hepatitis B; Carcinoma, hepatocellular; Inflammation