Abstract: Objective To investigate the predictive value of serum miR-182-5p and miR-204 expression on postoperative efficacy and recurrence in patients with primary hepatic carcinoma (PHC) after radiofrequency ablation (RFA). Methods 298 PHC patients admitted to our hospital from June 2021 to June 2022 were selected as the case group, all of whom were treated with RFA, and 336 healthy individuals who underwent physical examination during the same period were selected as the control group. The expression levels of serum miR-182-5p and miR-204 were compared between the case group and the healthy control group, the RFA complete ablation group and the residual group, and the RFA non-recurrence group and the recurrence group. The area under curve (AUC) of the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) was used to evaluate the predictive value of serum miR-182-5p and miR-204 expression levels on postoperative efficacy and recurrence of RFA, and the relationship between serum miR-182-5p and miR-204 expression and prognosis survival of patients was analyzed. Results The expression level of miR-182-5p in serum of the case group was higher than that of the healthy control group, while the expression level of miR-204 was lower than that of the healthy control group (P<0.05). The rate of complete ablation after RFA was 85.91% (256/298) and the rate of residual tumor was 14.09% (42/298). The expression level of miR-182-5p in the complete ablation group after RFA was lower than that in the residual group, while the expression level of miR-204 was higher than that in the residual group (P<0.05). ROC curve analysis results showed that the combination of miR-182-5p and miR-204 predicted the AUC of postoperative tumor residue in patients after RFA was 0.919 (95% CI: 0.868~0.970), the sensitivity was 85.71%, and the specificity was 93.36%. The recurrence rate was 18.95% (47/248) and the non-recurrence rate was 81.05% (201/248) during follow-up after RFA. The expression level of miR-182-5p in the group without recurrence after RFA was lower than that in the group with recurrence, while the expression level of miR-204 was higher than that in the group with recurrence (P<0.05). ROC curve analysis results showed that the combined detection of miR-182-5p and miR-204 predicted the AUC of postoperative recurrence of patients after RFA was 0.875 (95% CI: 0.817-0.933), sensitivity was 80.85%, and specificity was 90.05%. The median overall survival (OS) of miR-182-5p group was 25.48 months, which was shorter than that of the low expression group (28.67 months). The median OS of the high expression group of miR-204 was 29.34 months, which was longer than that of the low expression group (26.81 months) (all P<0.05). Conclusion The high expression of miR-182-5p and the low expression of miR-204 may be involved in the process of tumor residual and recurrence after RFA in PHC patients, and they are related with shortened prognosis and survival of patients. The combination of miR-182-5p and miR-204 has certain predictive value for tumor residual and recurrence in PHC patients after RFA.

Key words: miR-182-5p, miR-204, Primary hepatic carcinoma, Radio frequency ablation, Recrudescence