ASSOCIATION BETWEEN TWO-DIMENSIONAL TRANSTHORACIC ECHOCARDIOGRAPHY AND HEPATOCELLULAR CARCINOMA PROGRESSION

To explore the associations between transthoracic echocardiography (TTE)-related metrics and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) progression. This retrospective study included primary HCC patients (within the Milan criteria) between January 2015 and June 2023 from the Chinese PLA General Hospital. All patients underwent TTE within one week before thermal ablation of the HCC. The primary outcome was disease-free survival (DFS). TTE-related indices, patients´ baseline characteristics, and laboratory test parameters were evaluated as independent risk factors for disease-free survival (DFS) via logistic regression with the backward stepwise method. Continuous variables were standardized or converted to binary categories, and different variable combinations were analyzed. A total of 214 patients were admitted (mean age 63.80 ± 11.20 years; 74.77% male), of whom 120 experienced tumor progression. The median follow-up was 56.90 (IQR: 48.95 – 62.52) months. Logistic regression analysis revealed that E < A was an independent risk factor for DFS (OR = 2.10 [95% CI: 1.10 – 4.03]; P = 0.025). Different variable combination strategies showed that E < A was linked to increased disease progression risk. The E/A ratio measured by echocardiography effectively indicates disease recurrence, whereas cardiac dysfunction negatively affects HCC progression.