AUTHOR=Wu Ying , Qi Han , Cao Fei , Shen Lujun , Chen Shuanggang , Xie Lin , Huang Tao , Song Ze , Zhou Danyang , Fan Weijun 

TITLE=TACE-Sorafenib With Thermal Ablation Has Survival Benefits in Patients With Huge Unresectable Hepatocellular Carcinoma

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Pharmacology

VOLUME=11

YEAR=2020

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/pharmacology/articles/10.3389/fphar.2020.01130

DOI=10.3389/fphar.2020.01130

ISSN=1663-9812

ABSTRACT=<sec><title>Purpose</title><p>To investigate the effectiveness and safety of transarterial chemoembolization (TACE) combined with sorafenib and thermal ablation in patients with huge hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).</p></sec><sec><title>Materials and Methods</title><p>This retrospective study examined 50 patients with huge unresectable HCC treated from January 2009 to December 2015. Among them, 28 cases received TACE-sorafenib treatment (TACE-sorafenib group), and 22 cases received TACE-sorafenib plus thermal ablation treatment (TACE-sorafenib-thermal ablation group). The Overall survival (OS), progression-free survival (PFS), and adverse events (AEs) were compared.</p></sec><sec><title>Results</title><p>The median follow-up was 13.5 months (ranges 4.2 to 96.7 months). The median OS was significantly longer in the TACE-sorafenib-thermal ablation group than that in the TACE-sorafenib group (20.8 vs. 10.4 months, <italic>P</italic>=0.003). The median PFS of the ablation and no ablation groups were 4.3 vs. 7.1 months (<italic>P</italic>=0.546). The treatment modality was an independent predictor of OS (<italic>P</italic>=0.004). There were no notable drug-related high grade adverse events or permanent adverse sequelae.</p></sec><sec><title>Conclusion</title><p>TACE-sorafenib-thermal ablation provided extended OS to patients with huge unresectable HCC and could be a better choice than TACE-sorafenib.</p></sec>