The correlation between preoperative serum GGT level and the prognosis in liver cancer patients undergoing living donor liver transplantation

Abstract

Objective To explore the relationship between the serum gamma glutamyl transpeptidase (GGT) level and the prognosis of liver cancer patients undergoing living dornor liver transplantation. Methods A retrospective analysis was made on 139 liver cancer cases receiving living donor liver Tx from Apri 2005 to Oct 2015 in Sichuan University Huaxi Hospital. GGT cut-off value of 71 U/L was calculated from the ROC curve method (sensitivity was 72.2%, specificity was 59.0%). According to the values of the cut-off patients were divided into high GGT group (73 cases) and low GGT group (66 cases), chi-square test was used to judge its correlation with capillary tumor emboli and Kaplan Meier method to determine the overall survival rate difference. Results The tumor vascular invasion, AFP level, tumor size were in disfavour for higher GGT group (P<0.05). The 1, 3, 5 year′s survival rates were 59.0%, 44.5%, 39.7%, for high GGT group, and in low GGT group it was 78.6%, 63.6%, 63.6%, P=0.010). Conclusions The liver cancer patients with high preoperative serum GGT values have poor long-term prognosis after receiving living donor liver transplantation. Key words: Carcinoma, hepatocellular; Liver transplantation; Gamma-glutamyltransferase