Background: The FIB-4 index is a simple formula for predicting the degree of liver fibrosis. This study aimed to examine the relationship between the preoperative FIB-4 index and liver fibrosis in non-tumor regions of surgical specimens and to investigate whether the FIB-4 index is a useful predictor for long-term outcomes experienced by hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) patients after curative resection.
Methods: This study retrospectively analyzed 493 HCC patients treated with curative resection. The utility of the FIB-4 index as a predictor of advanced liver fibrosis (F3 or F4) was assessed. The cutoff value for the FIB-4 index was determined using a receiver operating characteristic curve analysis, and the impact of the FIB-4 index on overall and recurrence-free survival after surgery was evaluated.
Results: Advanced liver fibrosis was found in 236 patients (47.9 %). The FIB-4 index was significantly higher for the patients with advanced liver fibrosis than for those without this condition (P < 0.001). An FIB-4 index of 2.87 was the optimal cutoff point for predicting advanced liver fibrosis. The multivariate analysis showed the FIB-4 index to be an independent prognostic factor for recurrence-free and overall survival after curative resection only for patients who underwent hepatectomy as initial treatment (hazard ratio, 1.47 and 1.59; 95 % confidence interval, 1.12-1.93 and 1.09-2.32; P = 0.006 and 0.016, respectively).
Conclusions: The study showed the FIB4-index to be a predictor of background liver fibrosis and long-term outcomes for HCC patients who underwent hepatectomy as their initial treatment.