Impact of an inflammation-based prognostic system on patients undergoing surgery for hepatocellular carcinoma: a retrospective study of 398 Japanese patients

BACKGROUND: Few studies have investigated the Glasgow Prognostic Score (GPS) in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). METHODS: This study compared the prognostic value of the GPS and Cancer of the Liver Italian Program (CLIP) score in patients undergoing surgery for HCC. RESULTS: A total of 398 patients were evaluated retrospectively. Kaplan-Meier analyses revealed that GPS (P < .001) and CLIP score (P < .001) were associated with overall survival. GPS could classify patients with low CLIP score (0 or 1) into 3 independent groups (P < .001). Univariate analyses selected GPS (P = .006) and CLIP score (P = .002) as the predictive factors associated with overall survival. Multivariate analysis using these 2 scoring systems disclosed that both GPS (P = .025) and CLIP score (P = .010) were associated with overall survival. CONCLUSIONS: GPS is not only an important predictor of overall survival after surgical treatment of HCC as well as CLIP score, but also is able to clearly divide patients with low CLIP score into 3 independent groups. (C) 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.