Objective: To explore the risk factors of ocular metastasis (OM) in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) by analyzing the demographic characteristics and serum markers.
Methods: From July 2002 to December 2012, 1064 HCC patients were included in our study. The chi-squared test and Student’s t-test were used to assess the difference between OM and any other metastasis (NOM). Receiver operating curve (ROC) was used to analyze the diagnostic value of serum biomarkers in HCC patients with OM.
Results: The incidence of OM in HCC patients was 1.88% in our research. There are no significant differences in age, gender, or histopathology in the OM group and the group without any metastasis. Binary logistic regression analysis presented that compared with the patients without cancer metastasis, carbohydrate antigen 125 (CA-125) and hemoglobin (Hb) were risk factors in hepatocellular carcinoma patients with OM (P < 0.05). The ROC curve analysis showed that the areas under the CA-125, Hb, and CA125+Hb curves were 0.877, 0.554, and 0.431, and the cutoff values of CA-125 and Hb each were 115.78 u/mL and 120.50 g/L.
Conclusion: Our data suggest that CA-125 and Hb are risk indicators in hepatocellular carcinoma patients with OM, and that CA-125+Hb has potentially greater utility in diagnosing hepatocellular carcinoma.
Keywords: hepatocellular carcinoma, ocular metastases, CA-125, Hb, risk factors