Study on the diagnostic value of inflammatory markers in peripheral blood for hepatocellular carcinoma

Zhao Shiyu; Bao Guolin; Gao Binbin; Xu Li; Liu Chunmei; Liu Yiqing

doi:10.3760/j.issn.1673-4777.2024.12.009

Abstract：Objective To investigate the diagnostic value of inflammatory markers in peripheral blood for hepatocellular carcinoma(HCC).Methods A total of 431 patients with HCC who were admitted to Shandong Provincial Hospital Affiliated to Shandong First Medical University from January 2019 to April 2022 were collected as the research objects(HCC group),and 153 patients with hepatic hemangioma were enrolled as the control group.The peripheral blood neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio(NLR),platelet to lymphocyte ratio(PLR),lymphocyte to monocyte ratio(LMR),lymphocyte to C-reactive protein ratio(LCR),C-reactive protein to albumin ratio(CAR),albumin to total bilirubin ratio(ABR),fibrinogen to albumin ratio(FAR),fibrinogen to prealbumin ratio(FPR)were calculated.Logistic regression analysis was used to evaluate the risk factors and protective factors for distinguishing HCC from hepatic hemangioma.The receiver operating characteristic(ROC)curve was drawn to analyze the auxiliary diagnostic value of the above indicators in the differential diagnosis of HCC and hepatic hemangioma.Results Logistic regression analysis showed that male,age,NLR,CAR and FPR were risk factors for the development of hepatic hemangioma into HCC(odds ratios=11.710,1.110,1.998,1.035,7.989,all P＜0.05);ABR,PLR,LMR and FAR were protective factors for the development of hepatic hemangioma into HCC(odds ratios=0.686,0.978,0.670,0.798,all P＜0.05).The results of ROC curve analysis showed that LMR,CAR,ABR,and FPR showed good diagnostic efficacy in the differential diagnosis of HCC and hepatic hemangioma[area under the curve(AUC)＞0.7],among which the protective factor LMR had the highest diagnostic efficacy,with an AUC of 0.761.The AUC of combined detection of NLR,PLR,LMR,LCR,CAR,ABR,FAR,and FPR was 0.946,which had the highest diagnostic efficiency.Conclusions NLR,PLR,LMR,LCR,CAR,ABR,FAR and FPR have certain value in the diagnosis of HCC.Among them,NLR,CAR and FPR are risk factors of HCC,and ABR,PLR,LMR and FAR are protective factors of HCC.The combined detection of the above indicators can improve the diagnostic efficiency of HCC.