Application of ROC curve in the evaluation of the diagnostic value of AFP determined by TRFIA and RIA in HCC

To determine the levels of AFP in serum by Time-resolved Abstract: To evaluate the clinical value of the time-resolved immunofluoroassay (TRFIA) and radioimmunoassay (RIA) methods in the determination of serum AFP levels for the diagnosis of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), one hundred and eighteen patients with HCC and 123 patients with liver benign disease (LBD) were included in this study. The serum levels of AFP were determined by TRFIA and RIA, respectively. The results from serum samples from the patients with HCC and LBD groups were used to calculate receiver operating characteristic curves (ROC). The cut off values of serum AFP levels for TRFIA and RIA were set at 7.23 ng/mL and 23.20 ng/mL, respectively. The diagnostic specificity and sensitivity were 45.8% and 91.4% for TRFIA, and 40.7% and 91.47% for RIA respectively. The area under the ROC curve for TRFIA and RIA was 75.9% and 65.5%, respectively. The results indicate that both TRFIA and RIA could meet the clinical diagnostic needs and TRFIA is superior to RIA for identifying patients with HCC. (authors)