Abstract:

Objective To investigate the significance of increased eosinophils （EOS） in peripheral blood on the prognosis after radical resection for hepatocellular carcinoma（HCC），providing a reference for determining the prognosis of patients after radical resection for liver cancer.　Methods Clinical data were retrospectively analyzed for patients with newly diagnosed HCC undergoing radical hepatectomy in Affiliated Tumor Hospital Guangxi Medical University between January 2011 and December 2013.Patients （431） were divided into 2 groups： a group that showed preoperative EOS increase （n=56），and a group that showed normal EOS （n=375）.　Imbalance in clinical data between the two groups was eliminated using propensity score matching（PSM）.Survival analysis was conducted using the Kaplan-Meier method.　Independent risk factors for cumulative survival rate were determined using Cox proportional hazards modeling.　Results Before PSM，cumulative survival rates at 1，3 and 5 years were 78.9%，54.3%，and 38.0% in the normal EOS group；the corresponding values in the EOS increase group were 82.1%，49.9%，and 30.1%（χ²=0.614，P=0.341）.After PSM（1∶1），47 patient pairs were obtained，and the cumulative survival rates were 85.1%，61.6%，and 31.2% in the normal EOS group，compared to 87.2%，50.0%，and 25.1% in the EOS increase group （χ²=0.601，P=0.438）.　Conclusion Preoperative increase in EOS in peripheral blood has no effect on overall survival rate in HCC patients.

Key words: Liver neoplasms, Hepatocellular carcinoma, Eosnophils, Prognosis, Propensity score matching