ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Oncol.
Sec. Gastrointestinal Cancers: Hepato Pancreatic Biliary Cancers
Volume 15 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fonc.2025.1679167
The effect of interval time of transcatheter arterial chemoembolization with drug-eluting beads (DEB-TACE) on the efficacy and safety of unresectable hepatocellular carcinoma : a case-control study
Provisionally accepted
- Guangxi Medical University Cancer Hospital, Nanning, China
Select one of your emails
You have multiple emails registered with Frontiers:
Notify me on publication
Please enter your email address:
If you already have an account, please login
You don't have a Frontiers account ? You can register here
Purpose: To investigate the effect of treatment interval on the efficacy and safety of transcatheter arterial chemoembolization with drug-eluting beads (DEB-TACE) in patients with unresectable hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Methods: Retrospective analysis of clinical data of HCC patients admitted to our hospital from December 2015 to December 2023. Kaplan Meier method was used to calculate survival rate, survival curve was plotted, log rank test was used for univariate analysis, and Cox regression model was used to analyze independent prognostic factors. Select cutoff values based on OS using X-tile software for grouping, and compare the impact of time intervals on OS and adverse reactions. Results: The median OS of the entire group was 26 months, and the 1-, 3-, and 5-year survival rates were 85.6%, 48.3%, and 41.8%, respectively. Multi factor analysis shows that, BCLC， The occurrence of splenomegaly, targeted therapy, and TACE interval are independent prognostic factors for overall survival. The analysis of treatment interval grouping showed that the cut-off value of TACE time interval was 4 weeks. The group with TACE interval>4 weeks (long interval group) showed better survival benefits than the group with TACE interval<4 weeks (short interval group) (mOS: 47 vs 34 months, P<0.001）。 The sub group analysis results showed that in the sub group analysis of ECOG grade 0 patients, no distant metastasis, and Child Pugh A patients, the long interval group had longer OS than the short interval group. One week after the second postoperative follow-up and comparison of laboratory indicators between the two groups, the differences in lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) and platelets between the two groups were significant (P<0.05). No serious treatment-related complications were observed in any of the patients. Conclusion: DEB-TACE performed at intervals longer than 4 weeks has a better prognosis for HCC than DEB-TACE performed within 4 weeks without increasing adverse reactions.
Keywords: Transcatheter hepatic arterial chemoembolization, Drug-eluting beads, Hepatocellular Carcinoma, Interval time, Carcinoma
Received: 16 Aug 2025; Accepted: 30 Sep 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Deng, Zhang, Xue, Zheng and Zhao. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Guoyu Deng, laiziwoxin1979@163.com
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.