It was found that cases with lymphatic or bloodvesselinvasion were significantly different between those survived over 5 years and died of cancer within 2 years.
The multivariate analysis indicated that bloodvesselinvasion, preoperative AST ascending, liver capsule invasion, resection margin and tumor size were the major risk factors affecting the prognosis.
The team subsequently identified the crucial importance of assessing both the level of blood and lymph vesselinvasion by cancer cells at the earliest stages of detection.