Efficacy of N-acetylcysteine vs dexamethasone in preventing postembolization syndrome post-transarterial chemoembolization in hepatocellular carcinoma: A randomized controlled trial

Table 2 Effectiveness of N-acetylcysteine compared to dexamethasone on the postembolization syndrome and the association of the characteristic of hepatocellular carcinoma (beyond up to 7) on postembolization syndrome

Variables	PES (n = 27)	No PES (n = 29)	OR (95%CI)	P value	Adjusted OR	P value
Treatment group
N-acetylcysteine	9 (32.1)	19 (67.9)	0.26 (0.09- 0.80)	0.018	0.17 (0.03- 0.87)	0.0331
Dexamethasone	18 (64.3)	10 (35.7)	Reference		Reference
Beyond up to 7
Yes	22 (56.4)	17 (43.6)	3.11 (0.92-10.52)	0.069	1.00 (0.16-6.30)	1.0002
No	5 (29.4)	12 (70.6)	Reference		Reference

¹Multivariable logistic regression analysis adjusted for confounders summary score calculated from multivariable logistic regression analysis adjusted for sex, age, body mass index, hypertension, diabetes mellitus, dyslipidemia, etiology of cirrhosis (chronic hepatitis B, chronic hepatitis C, alcohol, Model for end-stage liver disease score), Child-Pugh score, Model for end-stage liver disease score, albumin-bilirubin score, Barcelona Clinic Liver Cancer stage B, maximum tumor size, tumor number, aspartate aminotransferase, alanine aminotransferase, total bilirubin, albumin, mitomycin dose, and lipiodol dose were used to analyze the effectiveness of N-acetylcysteine compared to dexamethasone on the postembolization syndrome.

²Multivariable logistic regression analysis adjusted for confounders summary score calculated from multivariable logistic regression analysis adjusted for treatment group (N-acetylcysteine & dexamethasone), sex, age, body mass index, hypertension, diabetes mellitus, dyslipidemia, etiology of cirrhosis (chronic hepatitis B, chronic hepatitis C, alcohol, Model for end-stage liver disease score), Child-Pugh score, Model for end-stage liver disease score, albumin-bilirubin score, Barcelona Clinic Liver Cancer stage B, aspartate aminotransferase, alanine aminotransferase, total bilirubin, albumin, mitomycin dose, and lipiodol dose were used to analyze the association of the characteristic of hepatocellular carcinoma (beyond up to 7) on postembolization syndrome.

PES: Postembolization syndrome.