The AST/ALT ratio was analyzed as a continuous or ordinal variable. The chi-square test was used to assess the associations between categorical variables, and the Mann—Whitney or Kruskal—Wallis test was used to assess the associations between categorical and continuous variables. Survival was estimated using the Kaplan—Meier method and was compared using the log-rank test. A Cox proportional hazard model was used to obtain HR for death. A p value of <0.05 was considered to be statistically significant. Recursive partitioning analysis (RPA) was used to divide the patients into risk-based groups according to the clinical stage and AST/ALT ratio. The JMP v12 statistical software (IBM Japan, Tokyo, Japan) was used to perform statistical analyses.