Changes in liver and spleen stiffness after transarterial chemoembolization for hepatocellular carcinoma and role in predicting hepatic decompensation

doi:10.3748/wjg.122240

Advanced Search

BPG is committed to discovery and dissemination of knowledge

Home / Archive / Volume 32, Issue 43

This Article

(0)

Peer-Review Report of This Article

Academic Rules and Norms of This Article

Supplementary Materials of This Article

Citation of this article

Corresponding Author of This Article

Research Domain of This Article

Article-Type of This Article

Open-Access Policy of This Article

Times Cited Counts in Google of This Article

Journal Information of This Article

Publication Name

World Journal of Gastroenterology

ISSN

1007-9327

Publisher of This Article

Baishideng Publishing Group Inc, 7041 Koll Center Parkway, Suite 160, Pleasanton, CA 94566, USA

- Full Article (XML)

Prospective Study

Copyright: ©Author(s) 2026. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license. No commercial re-use. See permissions. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc.

World J Gastroenterol. Nov 21, 2026; 32(43): 122240
Published online Nov 21, 2026. doi: 10.3748/wjg.122240

Changes in liver and spleen stiffness after transarterial chemoembolization for hepatocellular carcinoma and role in predicting hepatic decompensation

Chidkamon Pattarawongpaiboon, Panarat Thaimai, Sangdao Boonkaya, Kanteera Sriyudthsak, Salisa Lertsanguansinchai, Prooksa Ananchuensook, Supachaya Sriphoosanaphan, Sombat Treeprasertsuk, Piyawat Komolmit, Kessarin Thanapirom, Division of Gastroenterology, Department of Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Chulalongkorn University and King Chulalongkorn Memorial Hospital, Thai Red Cross Society, Bangkok 10330, Krung Thep Maha Nakhon, Thailand

Prooksa Ananchuensook, Supachaya Sriphoosanaphan, Piyawat Komolmit, Kessarin Thanapirom, Center of Excellence in Liver Fibrosis and Cirrhosis, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok 10330, Krung Thep Maha Nakhon, Thailand

Prooksa Ananchuensook, Supachaya Sriphoosanaphan, Piyawat Komolmit, Excellence Center in Liver Diseases, King Chulalongkorn Memorial Hospital, Thai Red Cross Society, Bangkok 10330, Krung Thep Maha Nakhon, Thailand

Nutcha Pinjaroen, Department of Radiology, Faculty of Medicine, Chulalongkorn University and King Chulalongkorn Memorial Hospital, Thai Red Cross Society, Bangkok 10330, Krung Thep Maha Nakhon, Thailand

Author contributions: Pattarawongpaiboon C, Komolmit P, and Thanapirom K were involved in the conception and design of the study; Pattarawongpaiboon C, Thaimai P, Boonkaya S, Sriyudthsak K, Lertsanguansinchai S, Ananchuensook P, Sriphoosanaphan S, and Pinjaroen N were involved in data curation and formal analysis; Thaimai P performed liver and splenic stiffness measurement; Pattarawongpaiboon C, Treeprasertsuk S, and Thanapirom K were involved in writing the original draft; all authors had access to the study data, reviewed and approved the final version of this manuscript.

AI contribution statement: No artificial intelligence (AI) tools or generative AI technologies were used in the research design, data analysis, drafting, or editing of this manuscript. The manuscript was written entirely by the authors, with language refinement provided solely by professional human editors. The authors take full responsibility for the originality, accuracy, and integrity of the content.

Supported by The Gastroenterological Association of Thailand (GAT).

Institutional review board statement: The study protocol was approved by the Institutional Review Board of the Faculty of Medicine, Chulalongkorn University (COA No. 1331/2024; IRB No. 0322/67), and was conducted in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki and Good Clinical Practice guidelines.

Clinical trial registration statement: The study protocol was registered in the Thai Clinical Trial Registry (No. TCTR20241021001) on October 21, 2024, prior to the official initiation of participant enrollment in November 2024.

Informed consent statement: Written informed consent was obtained from each participant.

Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

CONSORT 2010 statement: The authors have read the CONSORT 2010 Statement, and the manuscript was prepared and revised according to the CONSORT 2010 Statement.

Data sharing statement: Technical appendix, statistical code, and dataset are available from the corresponding author at kessarin.t@chula.ac.th. Participants gave informed consent for data sharing and the presented data are anonymized and risk of identification is low.

Corresponding author: Kessarin Thanapirom, MD, Associate Professor, Division of Gastroenterology, Department of Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Chulalongkorn University and King Chulalongkorn Memorial Hospital, Thai Red Cross Society, 1873 Rama IV Road, Pathumwan, Bangkok 10330, Krung Thep Maha Nakhon, Thailand. kessarin.t@chula.ac.th

Received: April 17, 2026
Revised: June 8, 2026
Accepted: June 25, 2026
Published online: November 21, 2026
Processing time: 163 Days and 5.4 Hours

Core Tip

Core Tip: This prospective study evaluated the changes in liver stiffness measurements (LSM) and spleen stiffness measurements (SSM) assessed by two-dimensional shear wave elastography and transient elastography in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma undergoing transarterial chemoembolization. Both LSM and SSM showed no significant changes on days 10 and days 30 after the procedure. Importantly, baseline SSM was identified as a significant non-invasive predictor of 6-month hepatic decompensation. Incorporating baseline SSM (> 54 kilopascals) alongside the modified albumin-bilirubin grade can serve as a comprehensive preprocedural risk stratification tool, effectively bridging the prognostic gap, particularly in clinically homogeneous patients with preserved liver function.