Comparative study on the efficacy and safety of transarterial chemoembolization combined with hepatic arterial infusion chemotherapy for large unresectable hepatocellular carcinoma.

Background: Transarterial chemoembolization (TACE) and hepatic arterial infusion chemotherapy (HAIC) are two new treatments for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Previous studies had reported that TACE combined with HAIC conferred better survival benefit than TACE alone. The study was to evaluate the availability and safety of TACE combined with HAIC for the treatment of large HCC.

Methods: Patients with unresectable large HCC who underwent TACE combined with HAIC (TACE-HAIC group) and HAIC alone (HAIC group) at the Department of Interventional Radiology between August 2018 and September 2022 were retrospectively enrolled in this study. Overall survival (OS), progression-free survival (PFS), tumor response, and adverse events (AEs) were used to evaluate the efficacy and safety of the two groups by using log-rank test. The independent factors of OS of large HCC patients were investigated by Cox regression model.

Results: A total of 73 patients (mean age, 59.8±8.8; 60 men) with unresectable large HCC were finally screened in the current study, including 32 who received TACE combined with HAIC and 41 who received HAIC alone. Compared with patients in HAIC group, TACE-HAIC group had higher median OS (37.1 14.9 months, P=0.0014). Similarly, PFS in the TACE-HAIC group was longer than that in the HAIC group (16.5 6.9 months, P=0.0037). The objective response rate (ORR) was 65.6% 53.7% and the disease control rate (DCR) was 90.6% 78.0% in the two groups, neither was statistically significant (P=0.345 and 0.208, respectively). All AEs related to therapy were manageable, and there were no significant differences in the incidence of any grade and grade 3/4 AEs between the two groups (P>0.05).

Conclusions: TACE combined with HAIC yielded a promising prognosis in treating patients with large HCC compared with HAIC alone, with tolerable toxicity.