Statistical analysis
Statistical analysis was conducted using the statistical software SPSS
25 (IBM Corp., Armonk, NY). Chi-square test was used to analyze the
associations between pathological response and patient characteristics.
Complete remission was considered as normal serum tumor markers
(<10 mg/L or below the age-related reference value) and
absence of all imaging abnormalities in computed tomography or magnetic
nuclear resonance imaging. Partial remission was defined as AFP decline
and shrinkage of tumor size by at least 50%. Relapse was defined as
detection of new lesions in local or distant sites in terms of complete
remission. The RFS were generated according to the Kaplan and Meier
method. The influences of suspected prognostic factors associated with
RFS were analyzed with the Breslow test due to most relapse occurring in
short time. Log-rank test was performed to determine the survival
difference in long term. RFS was calculated as the time from diagnosis
to the first relapse or death (death related with disease or
therapy-oriented complication) or from the first relapse to the next
relapse. All statistical tests were two-sided and the P values
< 0.05 were considered statistically significant.