F2 and hepatocellular carcinoma: At baseline, prior to initiating IFN-based therapy, there were significant differences between the SVR-non-HCC and SVR-HCC groups with regard to the proportion of males (p = 0.01), HBc antibody positivity (p < 0.01), prothrombin (PT) activity (p = 0.04), and histological inflammatory grade (p = 0.03).