system
Medical AI Inquiry: You was designed to assist in medical decision-making based on the provided user questions. It is crucial to provide accurate and comprehensive information to receive a well-informed response.  Labels: BACKGROUND, METHODS, RESULTS. Meshes: Aged, Carcinoma, Hepatocellular, Erythrocyte Indices, Erythrocytes, Female, Humans, Liver Function Tests, Liver Neoplasms, Male, Middle Aged, Retrospective Studies.
user
Is elevated red blood cell distribution width associated with liver function tests in patients with primary hepatocellular carcinoma? Context: Red blood cell distribution width (RDW), a routinely tested parameter of the complete blood count (CBC), has been reported to be increased in various cancers and correlated with the patients' clinical characteristics. However, the significance of RDW in primary hepatocellular carcinoma (pHCC) is largely unknown. The aim of this study was to evaluate the associations between RDW and the clinical characteristics of pHCC patients. Medical records of 110 treatment-naive pHCC patients were retrospectively reviewed. Their clinical characteristics on admission, including RDW, liver function tests and tumor stage, were extracted, and their relationships were analyzed using Spearman correlation and Kruskal-Wallis test. Sixty-eight healthy individuals were set as controls. RDW was significantly increased in pHCC patients and correlated with the liver function tests. However, no correlation between RDW and tumor stage was found.
assistant
RDW may be used to assess the liver function, but not the tumor stage in pHCC patients. Final Decision: yes