According to Barcelona Clinic Liver Cancer classification, transarterial chemoembolization (TACE) is preferred treatment for stage B and in certain cases for stage A hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Conventional TACE (c-TACE) and drug-eluting microspheres TACE (DEM-TACE) are available intraarterial therapies. Screening of patients with cirrhosis is of great importance for early detection of malignant liver nodules. Primary endpoint of this study was to compare DEM-TACE with c-TACE in terms of 12-and 24-month survival. Secondary endpoints were comparison of intensity and duration of the postembolization syndrome (PES) and severe adverse events. We randomized 60 patients with unresectable HCC one-to-one with c-TACE or DEM-TACE and followed them for at least 24 months or until death. TACE was repeated 'on-demand. Most patients underwent two TACE sessions and the median hospital stay was 3 days for c-TACE and 2 days for DEM-TACE group. The overall 12-and 24-month survival rates were 89.8 and 70.7%, respectively, precisely 85.7 and 63.6% after c-TACE and 90.2 and 75.8% after DEM-TACE, without any significant difference (P = 0.18). Median overall survival was 21.1 months. Significant difference in the overall 12-and 24-month survival was found in patients with Child-Pugh A compared to Child-Pugh B class (P = 0.001). Child-Pugh class, aspartate aminotransferase levels and ascites independently predicted survival (P = 0.003). Both, DEM-TACE and c-TACE showed excellent 12-and 24-month survival rates. No significant difference in terms of adverse events was found. PES was slightly more severe after c-TACE, because of elevated temperature. DEM-TACE requires shorter in-hospital stay.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.