Outcome of transarterial chemoembolization in patients with inoperable hepatocellular carcinoma eligible for radiofrequency ablation

Table 1 Characteristics of 114 patients eligible for RFA but received TACE treatment

Characteristics	Median	Interquartile range
Age (yr)	63	55-71
Gender: male/female (n)	87/27	76/24
Child’s grading (n, %)
A	90	79
B	24	21
HBsAg status (n, %)
Positive	82	71
Negative	32	28
TNM stage (n, %)
Stage I	72	63
Stage II	39	34
Stage IIIA	1	1
Stage IIIC	2	2
Number of tumor nodules (n, %)	1	1-2
1	76	67
2	32	28
3	6	5
Size of largest tumor nodule (cm)	3	2.1-4.0
Tumor distribution (n, %)
Unilobar	88	77
Bilobar	26	23
Platelet count (×109/L)	98	72-128
Albumin (g/L)	37	33-41
Total bilirubin (μmol/L)	17	12-24
Prothrombin time (s)	13.2	11.9-14.6
INR	1.1	1.0-1.2
AFP (ng/mL)	80	15-373
Number of TACE procedures	5	3-8

TACE: transarterial chemoembolization; HBsAg: hepatitis B surface antigen; INR: international normalized ratio; values are median with their interquartile range, unless denoted otherwise.

Table 2 Causes of death in 74 patients after TACE treatment

Causes	n	%
Malignant cachexia	45	61
Bleeding	3	4
Hepatic failure	9	12
Respiratory failure	1	1
Multiorgan failure	2	3
Sepsis	4	5
Other	10	14
Total (n)	74

TACE: transarterial chemoembolization.

Table 3 Univariate analysis for prognostic factors of death

Variable	Hazard ratio	95%CI	P
Age (per yr)	1.01	0.99-1.03	0.347
Female sex	0.91	0.51-1.63	0.747
Bilirubin (mmol/L)1
5.00-11.75
11.75-17.00	1.16	0.62-2.17	0.648
17.00-24.00	1.67	0.88-3.18	0.116
24.00-83.00	1.66	0.85-3.25	0.14
Albumin (g/L)1
24-33
33-37	0.72	0.38-1.37	0.31
37-41	0.92	0.50-1.69	0.786
41-50	0.4	0.20-0.81	0.011
AFP (ng/mL)1
2-14.75
14.75-81.50	1.42	0.71-2.86	0.32
81.50-366	2.3	1.16-4.57	0.017
366-11 470	1.99	1.03-3.83	0.041
Platelet count (×109/L)1
36-72
72-99	1	0.54-1.85	0.992
99-128	1.26	0.66-2.39	0.486
128-295	0.81	0.42-1.59	0.539
Bilobar disease	1.06	0.62-1.80	0.841
Largest tumor >3 cm	1.4	0.87-2.24	0.163
Child’s B grade2	1.67	0.97-2.88	0.065
AJCC TNM stage3
Stage I
Stage II	1.08	0.67-1.73	0.763
Stage IIIA	0	0.00->100	0.971
Stage IIIC	1.73	0.24-12.65	0.591

CI: confidence interval; AJCC: American Joint Committee on Cancer.

¹Hazard ratio of bilirubin, albumin, AFP, and platelet count is given relative to the lowest quartile.

²Hazard ratio of Child’s B grade is given relative to Child’s A grade.

³Hazard ratio of AJCC TNM stage is given relative to stage I.

Table 4 Multivariate analysis for prognostic factors of death

Variable	Hazard ratio	95%CI	P
Age (per yr)	0.98	0.95-1.00	0.044
Albumin (g/L)1
24-33
33-37	0.83	0.42-1.63	0.586
37-41	1.14	0.61-2.13	0.685
41-50	0.21	0.09-0.49	<0.0005
AFP (ng/mL)1
2-14.75
14.75-81.50	1.57	0.77-3.17	0.209
81.50-366	4.61	2.13-9.98	<0.0005
366-11 470	3.72	1.77-7.85	0.001
Largest tumor >3 cm2	1.64	1.00–2.69	0.049

CI: confidence interval.

¹Hazard ratio of albumin and AFP is given relative to the lowest quartile.

²Hazard ratio is given relative to the size of the largest tumor smaller than 3 cm in diameter.