Characteristics and risk differences of different tumor sizes on distant metastases of hepatocellular carcinoma: A retrospective cohort study in the SEER database.

Abstract Introduction A typical feature of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is growth with metastasis to distant organs, which is associated with poor survival. Whether tumor size can predict distant metastases in HCC remains unclear. Methods We identified 29,170 HCC patients with or without distant metastases between 2010 and 2016 in the Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results database. According to an optimal cutoff value of tumor size (58 mm) for predicting distant metastases using Youden’s index, patients were categorized into groups of tumor size ≤30 cm, 30–58 mm, and ≥58 mm. Results Tumor size had a significantly positive correlation with distant metastases (r=0.245, P Conclusions Tumor size ≥58 mm is significantly associated with HCC distant metastases. In clinical practice, patients with tumors ≥58 mm may benefit from timely identification of distant metastases.