Abstract
Background: There are limitations in judging the occurrence of lymph node metastasis (LNM) in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) before surgery. The purpose of this study was to establish a preoperative nomogram for predicting the risk of LNM in HCC and to explore its clinical utility.Methods: A total of 195 HCC patients undergoing radical hepatectomy were retrospectively analyzed. According to the presence or absence of LNM, the patients were divided into two groups, and the clinical characteristics of the two groups were compared. Risk factors for LNM were assessed based on logistic regression, and a nomogram was established. The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was used to calculate area under the curve (AUC) of the logistic regression model, and the predictive accuracy of the nomogram was evaluated by the concordance index (C-index). The clinical efficacy of the nomogram was detected by decision curve analysis (DCA).Results: Logistic analysis revealed hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) (HR = 3.50, 95% CI, 1.30-9.42, P = 0.013), globulin (HR = 2.46, 95% CI, 1.05-5.75, P = 0.039), neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio (NLR) (HR = 7.64, 95% CI, 3.22-18.11, P < 0.001) and tumor size (HR = 3.86, 95% CI, 1.26-11.88 P = 0.018) were independent risk factors for lymph node metastasis in HCC. The nomogram was established based on the above 4 variables, and the AUC was 0.835 (95% CI, 0.780-0.890). The calibration curve showed that the model has good predictive ability, and DCA indicates good predictive effect.Conclusions: The nomogram established by analyzing the preoperative clinical characteristics is a simple tool that can predict the risk of lymph node metastasis in HCC patients and guide clinicians to make better clinical decisions.
Nomogram Based on Preoperative Clinical Characteristics to Predict the Risk of Lymph Node Metastasis in Hepatocellular Carcinoma