Predictors for hepatocellular carcinoma recurrence after microwave ablation
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Updated: Dec 13, 2025
Application of Laparoscopic Hepatectomy Combined with Intraoperative Microwave Ablation in Colorectal Cancer Liver Metastasis
Published on: March 3, 2023
Hend Naguib Abd El Moteleub1, Amr Ali Abd El Moety1, Nahed Mohammed Baddour2
1Hepatology Unit, Internal Medicine Department, Faculty of Medicine, Alexandria University, Egypt.
Aim Of The Study:
Microwave ablation (MWA) for treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a new promising modality. The prognosis after treatment is mainly linked to the recurrence. We aimed to investigate the predictive value of α-fetoprotein (AFP) score and Aurora B kinase (AURKB) in HCC recurrence after MWA.
Material And Methods:
A cross-sectional study where 25 early-stage HCC patients (Barcelona Clinic Liver Cancer 0/A-B) were treated with MWA. Tumor biopsies were obtained just prior to MWA and assessed for WHO pathological grade and AURKB expression by immunohistochemistry. AFP score was calculated and a cut-off value of 2 classifies patients into high and low risk of recurrence. After achieving complete ablation, patients were followed every 3 months for 1 year by triphasic CT to detect recurrence.
Results:
Child-Pugh classification has no significant impact on prognosis of HCC after MWA (χ2 = 1.924, p = 0.165). Serum AFP level and AFP score can effectively predict the response to MWA among HCC patients (χ2 = 6.451, MC p = 0.031) (χ2 = 9.0, p = 0.003), respectively. AFP score was strongly associated with the pathological grade of the tumor (r = 0.467, p = 0.019). AURKB was over-expressed in tumoral more than non-tumoral specimens (p < 0.001). It was correlated with the size of the tumor, the number of tumor nodules and the pathological grade of the tumor (p < 0.05) but has no role in predicting recurrence after MWA (p = 0.869).
Conclusions:
AFP score but not AURKB can predict the risk of recurrence of HCC after MWA.
