Background: The purpose of this retrospective study was to investigate the relationship between serum iron levels and the prognosis and risk of recurrence in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).
Methods: A total of 253 HCC patients who underwent radical resection were involved in this study.
Results: According to the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve, the optimal cut-off value for preoperative serum iron in the assessment of HCC postoperative prognosis was 94 ug/dL. The overall survival (OS) of patients in the high iron group was significantly better than that in the low iron group (p  < 0.001). The recurrence rate of patients in the low iron group was higher than that in the high iron group (p  = 0.011). Correlation analysis showed that preoperative serum iron level was correlated with tumor size >5 cm (χ ² = 11.590, p  < 0.001), recurrence (χ ² = 5.714, p  = 0.017) and microvascular invasion (χ ² = 5.087, p  = 0.024). In addition, univariate analysis showed that OS and disease-free survival (DFS) of HCC patients with high iron level were better than those with low iron level. Furthermore, multivariate COX proportional hazards regression analysis showed that serum iron ≤94 μg/dL, tumor size >5 cm, and microvascular invasion were independent predictors for shorter OS and DFS in HCC patients after operation, while recurrence was for shorter OS.
Conclusion: Patients with low preoperative serum iron level had worse postoperative survival and higher recurrence rate in HCC. Preoperative serum iron is an independent predictor of HCC patients. For HCC patients with low iron levels, prognosis of patients may be improved if appropriate iron is supplemented.
Keywords: HCC, serum iron, prognosis, recurrence, survival rate