Original Article


Comparison of liver function and safety in hepatocellular cancer patients treated with DEB-TACE and cTACE: a multi-center, retrospective cohort study

Hua Xiang, Bin Xiong, Haiping Li, Chang Zhao, Zishu Zhang, Cong Ma, Chuansheng Zheng, Chao Luo, Huaiming Qiu, Yuanhui Yao, Hongyao Hu, Hui Zhao, Qingyun Long, Jun Zhou, Changyong Chen, Yilong Ma

Abstract

Background: This study aimed to compare the live function change and adverse events (AEs) between drug-eluting beads (DEB) transarterial chemoembolization (TACE) with CalliSpheres® microspheres (CSM) and conventional TACE (cTACE) in treating hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) patients.
Methods: Three hundred and thirty-five HCC patients underwent DEB-TACE with CSM (n=171, DEB-TACE group) or cTACE (n=164, cTACE group) were consecutively enrolled in this multi-center, retrospective cohort study. Liver function indexes were reviewed before treatment (W0), at 1 week (W1) and 1 month (M1) post treatment. Moreover, AEs during operation and hospitalization were retrieved as well.
Results: The changes of albumin (ALB) [–3.55 (–6.25 to –0.43) vs. –2.20 (–4.63–0.00), P=0.043] and total protein (TP) [–4.62 (–10.18–0.43) vs. –2.50 (–7.08–1.08), P=0.013] from W1 to W0 were lower in DEB-TACE group compared to cTACE group, while no difference was observed referring to the change of alanine aminotransferase (ALT) (P=0.494), aspartate aminotransferase (AST) (P=0.747), alkaline phosphatase (ALP) (P=0.895), total bilirubin (TBIL) (P=0.059), total bile acid (TBA) (P=0.491) from W1 to W0. And the changes of these seven indexes from M1 to W0 were all similar between DEB-TACE group and cTACE group (all P>0.05). Besides, the occurrence of pain during treatment (19.3% vs. 11.0%, P=0.034) and the occurrence of fever during hospitalization (18.1% vs. 9.1%, P=0.017) were both increased in DEB-TACE group compared to cTACE group.
Conclusions: DEB-TACE with CSM is non-inferior to cTACE in terms of liver function change, while DEB-TACE with CSM leads to higher incidences of pain and fever.

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