Abstract:

Transarterial chemoembolization (TACE) with drug-eluting beads (DEB) is a new palliative treatment method for patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Little is known about the efficiency of DEB-TACE for patients with HCC. The purpose of our study was to evaluate the treatment efficacy (survival rate, tumor response) and safety of DEB-TACE for inoperable HCC and to identify the predictors of survival in patients with unresectable HCC. Twenty-six patients (18 Child-Pugh A, 8 Child-Pugh B) underwent chemoembolization with doxorubicin DEB, including 5 women and 21 men with a mean age of 67.04 years (range 40–86 years). Twenty patients had one DEB-TACE procedure, while the remaining six had two procedures. Overall median survival and survival at 6 and 12 months were calculated. Meanwhile, the response rate was assessed using response evaluation criteria in solid tumors criteria on computed tomography/magnetic resonance imaging at 1 and 6 months. Overall survival rates at 6 months and 1 year from the first administration of doxorubicin DEB-TACE were 80% and 57%, respectively. At 1 and 6 months, objective tumor response rates were 46.2% and 57.1%, respectively. Child-Pugh class, Okuda staging, Cancer of the Liver Italian Programme score, Barcelona Clinic Liver Cancer staging, serum albumin level, Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group performance status, and tumor morphology and volume were found to be prognostic factors for survival. All of the procedures were technically successful, and there were no major complications. Eighteen patients died during the study period and eight survived.Transarterial chemoembolization with DEB is safe and well tolerated in patients with inoperable HCC. Additional prospective randomized controlled studies are required to assess the efficiency of DEB-TACE.

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