Abstract:
Objective To explore the prognostic factors that affect the long-term survival of hepatocellular carcinoma(HCC) patients after transcatheter arterial chemoembolization(TACE) treatment.
Methods 258 patients with HCC treated in the Interventional Department of Zhongshan Hospital, Fudan University from January 2003 to June 2014 were collected. According to the survival time, they were divided into long-term survival group (survival time ≥ 5 years, n=150) and short-term survival group (survival time < 5 years, n=108). All patients were treated with TACE initially. While, some patients received further combined therapy, such as surgical resection, molecular targeted drugs, and/or other interventional procedures. The clinical data of the two groups of patients were retrospectively compared and analyzed to explore factors affecting the long-term survival of patients after TACE treatment.
Results The median survival time of patients was 97 months in long-term survival group (95%CI 84.5~109.5), and 14 months in short-term survival group (95%CI 10.4~17.6). Univariate analysis showed that the number of tumors, tumor size, tumor boundary, AFP value, tumor stage, arteriovenous/portal fistula, extrahepatic metastasis, and portal vein invasion/portal vein tumor thrombus, lipiodol deposition status, extrahepatic tumor arterial blood supply, tumor borders, and accessibility to combined therapy are statistically significant (P < 0.05). Cox regression risk model showed that the number of tumors ≤ 3(HR=2.141, P < 0.01), uninvaded portal vein/no portal vein tumor thrombus(HR=1.679, P=0.017), lipiodol deposition state Ⅰ+Ⅱ(HR=3.554, P < 0.01), combined therapy(HR=2.745, P < 0.01) are independent factors influencing the long-term survival of HCC patients with TACE treatment.
Conclusion TACE and combined therapy based on TACE are safe and effective treatments for HCC patients. The quantity of tumors before TACE, the portal vein invasion/portal vein tumor thrombus, the state of lipiodol deposition after TACE, and combined therapy are all independent factors which affecting the long-term survival of HCC patients.