A systematic review and meta-analysis of adjuvant transarterial chemoembolization after curative resection for patients with hepatocellular carcinoma.

BACKGROUND

The aim of this study was to systematically evaluate and determine those patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) that would benefit from the administration of postoperative adjuvant transarterial chemoembolization (PA-TACE).

METHODS

PubMed, Embase and Cochrane Library were searched for randomized controlled trials (RCTs) and observational studies up to July 30, 2019. The outcome of Overall survival (OS) and disease-free survival (DFS) were extracted and converted to hazard ratios (HRs) with 95% confidence intervals (95%CIs).

RESULTS

A total of 40 studies (10 RCTs and 30 non-RCTs) involving 11,165 patients were included. Overall, PA-TACE was associated with an increased OS [HR, 0.71 (95% CI, 0.65-0.77); P < 0.001] and DFS [HR, 0.73 (95% CI, 0.66-0.80); P < 0.001]. Subgroup analysis in patients with microvascular invasion (MVI), tumor diameter >5 cm or multinodular tumors demonstrated that PA-TACE improved OS and DFS. In patients without MVI, PA-TACE showed no improvement in OS [HR, 1.14 (95% CI, 0.85-1.53); P = 0.370], and resulted in worse DFS than curative resection alone [HR, 1.20 (95% CI, 1.03-1.39); P = 0.002].

CONCLUSION

This meta-analysis indicated that PA-TACE was beneficial in patients with HCC who were at high risk of postoperative recurrence including tumor diameter >5 cm, multinodular tumors and MVI-positive. In patients with tumor diameter ≤5 cm, single tumor or MVI-negative. PA-TACE does not appear to improve outcomes and may potentially promote postoperative recurrence in certain patients.