Table 1 Demographic, laboratory, and imaging data of studied population

Demographic data (Count/%)

 Age

60.24 (8.07)

57.81

62.07

0.029

 Gender (male/female)

49 (68.1%)/23 (31.9%)

23 (74.2%)/8 (25.8%)

26 (63.4%)/15 (36.6%)

0.331

 BMI (mean/SD)

29.08 (3.86)

29.23 (3.98)

28.97 (3.81)

0.741

 Smoking

19 (26.4%)

9 (29%)

10 (24.4%)

0.658

 Diabetes mellitus

23 (31.9%)

10 (32.2%)

13 (31.7%)

0.960

 Previous DAAs therapy

17 (23.6%)

8 (25.8%)

9 (22%)

0.703

Laboratory data (mean/SD)

 Hemoglobin

14.32 (11.45)

16.02 (17.34)

13.03 (1.78)

0.759

 Leucocytic count

6.48 (2.04)

6.24 (1.65)

6.67 (2.29)

0.698

 Platelets

163.89 (45.94)

175.68 (38.73)

154.98 (49.31)

0.070

 Total bilirubin

1.02 (0.49)

0.90 (0.39)

1.11 (0.53)

0.151

 ALT

63.74 (52.5)

55.68 (45.08)

69.83 (57.27)

0.209

 AST

59.17 (45.65)

49.81 (28.42)

66.24 (54.53)

0.381

 Albumin

3.54 (0.52)

3.49 (0.5)

3.58 (0.54)

0.698

 Creatinine

0.90 (0.26)

0.89 (0.31)

0.91 (0.22)

0.939

 INR

1.40 (1.18)

1.50 (1.77)

1.33 (0.33)

0.101

 AFP (baseline) (median/IQR)

43.0 (12.30–125.00)

77 (31.3–136.0)

21 (6.7–54)

0.024

 AFP (post-treatment) (median/IQR)

13.7 (6.9–43.5)

18.8 (12.6–76.40)

11.9 (6.4–18.3)

0.003

Scores (count/%)

 Child Pugh score

A

65 (90.3%)

0 (0%)

4 (9.8%)

0.129

B

7 (9.7%)

31 (100%)

37 (90.2%)

 BCLC

0

4 (5.6%)

28 (90.3%)

37 (90.2%)

0.99

A

68 (94.4%)

3 (9.7%)

4 (9.8%)

Imaging data (count/%)

 Site of HFLs

Right lobe

58 (80.6%)

21 (67.7%)

37 (90.2%)

0.069

Left lobe

10 (13.9%)

7 (22.6%)

3 (7.3%)

Both lobes

4 (5.6%)

3 (9.7%)

1 (2.5%)

 Focal lesion size or size of largest lesion if 2 or multiple (mean/SD)

3.20 (1.03)

3.77 (0.97)

2.78 (0.87)

 < 0.001

 Number of focal lesions

Single

62 (86.1%)

1.29 (0.59)

1.07 (0.26)

0.058

Two

8 (11.1%)

Multiple (three or more)

2 (2.8%)