Radiotherapy is superior to transarterial chemoembolization as adjuvant therapy after narrow-margin hepatectomy in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma: A single-center prospective randomized study.

Background: This study was recruited to compare the efficacy and safety of radiotherapy (RT) and transarterial chemoembolization (TACE) as postoperative adjuvant therapy after narrow-margin hepatectomy in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) patients.

Methods: This single-center prospective randomized study was conducted in the Cancer Hospital, Guang Xi Medical University, Nanning. A total of 72 patients who received treatment in this hospital between August 2017 and July 2019 were included and randomly allocated to TACE group (n = 48) and RT group (n = 24). Next, overall survival (OS) and progression-free survival (PFS) rates, recurrence patterns, financial burden, and safety were evaluated.

Results: The difference between the RT and TACE groups was not significant in one-, three-, and five-year OS (87.5%, 79.0%, and 62.5% vs. 93.8%, 75.9%, and 63.4%, respectively, P = 0.071) and PFS rates (79.0%, 54.2%, and 22.6% vs. 75.0%, 47.9%, and 32.6%, respectively, P = 0.071). Compared to the TACE group, the RT group had significantly lower intrahepatic recurrence rate (20.8% vs. 52.1%, P = 0.011), higher extrahepatic recurrence rate (37.5% vs. 14.6%, P = 0.034), and no marginal and diffuse recurrences (0% vs. 16.7%, P < 0.05). The mean overall treatment cost was higher (¥62,550.59 ± 4397.27 vs. ¥40,732.56 ± 9210.54, P < 0.01), the hospital stay (15.1 ± 3.7 vs. 11.8 ± 4.1 days, P < 0.01) was longer, and the overall treatment stay (13.3 ± 5.3 vs. 41.29 ± 12.4 days, P < 0.01) was shorter in the TACE group than in the RT group. Besides, both groups did not exhibit significant differences in the frequency and severity of adverse events.

Conclusion: Both adjuvant TACE and RT can better the OS and PFS of patients with HCC. However, RT has a significantly better performance than TACE in terms of improving intrahepatic recurrence rate, treatment cost and hospital stay.