Impact of liver fibrosis score on prognosis after common therapies for intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma: a propensity score matching analysis

BackgroundLiver fibrosis or cirrhosis is associated with the dismal prognosis of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), and it might also be involved in intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (ICC). The effect of hepatic fibrosis on the survival of ICC patients is still unclear. This study aims to explore whether liver fibrosis impacts the overall survival (OS) and disease-specific survival (DSS) of ICC patients.MethodsData of 729 eligible ICC patients receiving different therapies from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results database (2004-2015) were analyzed. Unmatched, propensity score-matched, and propensity score-weighted cohorts were used to investigate the relationships of different fibrosis scores (low fibrosis score vs. high fibrosis score) and survival. A Cox regression and Kaplan-Meier curves were used to explore the influence of fibrosis score on patients' survival. Stratified analyses based on treatment modality were conducted to compare the survival difference in ICC patients with different fibrosis scores.ResultsBefore matching, the one-, three-, and five-year OS were 50.9, 28.0, and 16.1% in the low fibrosis score group (n=465) and 39.3, 20.1, and 8.0% in the high fibrosis score group (n=264) (P