SynthesisDiagnostic and interventional radiology (Ankara, Turkey)2020
TACE combined with microwave ablation therapy vs. TACE alone for treatment of early- and intermediate-stage hepatocellular carcinomas larger than 5 cm: a meta-analysis.
Synthesis in Diagnostic and interventional radiology (Ankara, Turkey), 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 33 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
33 citing papers in PubMed, 45 citations in OpenAlex.
- Microwave Ablation with or without TACE for Unresectable Large Hepatocellular Carcinoma: Impact of Tumor Burden Score on Efficacy.Journal of gastrointestinal cancer · 2026Article
- Transarterial chemoembolisation-based combination therapy as a potential new standard for intermediate-stage hepatocellular carcinoma in the targeted immunotherapy era.BMJ open gastroenterology · 2026Review
- Overexpression of NK4 suppresses hepatocellular carcinoma progression by inducing apoptosis and autophagy via MAPK pathway inhibition.Functional & integrative genomics · 2026Article
- Combined therapy with microwave ablation and conventional transarterial chemoembolization for hepatocellular carcinoma tumors larger than five centimetres: a prospective study.Diagnostic and interventional radiology (Ankara, Turkey) · 2026Article
- Safety and Efficacy of TACE Sequential Thermal Ablation in the Treatment of Hepatocellular Carcinoma After TIPS.Journal of hepatocellular carcinoma · 2026Article
- Efficacy Analysis of Capsule Integrity and TACE Combined with Microwave Ablation versus Microwave Ablation Alone for Primary Hepatocellular Carcinoma.Journal of hepatocellular carcinoma · 2026Article
- Efficacy and safety of TACE combined with MWA followed by immune checkpoint inhibitors and anti-VEGF/tyrosine kinase inhibitors in hepatocellular carcinoma beyond the up-to-7.Frontiers in immunology · 2026Article
- Article
- Modern approach to hepatocellular carcinoma treatment.World journal of hepatology · 2025Review
- Anatomic sub-segmentectomy with single-session combined transcatheter arterial embolization/microwave ablation for the treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma: preliminary results.Abdominal radiology (New York) · 2025Article
- Review
- Comprehensive treatment of intermediate and advanced primary hepatocellular carcinoma based on transcatheter arterial chemoembolization (Review).Oncology letters · 2025Review
- Transvenous pulmonary chemoembolization and microwave ablation for lung metastases from breast cancer: a propensity score matching analysis.La Radiologia medica · 2025Article
- The combination treatment of oncolytic adenovirus H101 with transcatheter arterial embolization sequential thermal ablation for hepatocellular carcinoma: a retrospective study.Frontiers in oncology · 2025Article
- Efficacy and safety of D-TACE followed by D-RFA for unresectable large hepatocellular carcinoma.Frontiers in oncology · 2025Article
- Efficacy and safety analysis of transarterial chemoembolization combined with tyrosine kinase inhibitors and immune checkpoint inhibitors with or without microwave ablation for unresectable hepatocellular carcinoma: a retrospective, multicenter, case-control study.Frontiers in immunology · 2025Article
- Current Treatment Methods in Hepatocellular Carcinoma.Cancers · 2024Review
- The combination of transarterial chemoembolization and microwave ablation is superior to microwave ablation alone for liver metastases from colorectal cancer.Journal of cancer research and clinical oncology · 2024Article
- Microwave ablation followed by cTACE in 5-cm HCC lesions: does a single-session approach affect liver function?La Radiologia medica · 2024Article
- Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
There are many therapeutic options for primary hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), but very limited options for unresectable HCC with a single lesion larger than 5 cm (Barcelona Clinic Liver Cancer [BCLC] stage A) or with 2-3 nodules beyond 5 cm (BCLC stage B). Transcatheter arterial chemoembolization (TACE) is considered the first-line treatment for these patients, and combination therapy has also been tried. However, the effectiveness of microwave ablation (MWA) combined with TACE in the treatment of the above tumors remains to be further confirmed. Therefore, this meta-analysis aimed to compare the effectiveness of combination therapy and TACE monotherapy on these patients. PubMed, Cochrane Library, Embase, China National Knowledge Infrastructure, and the Wan Fang electronic databases were retrieved to search for studies comparing combination therapy and TACE monotherapy, published between the earliest available date and August 20, 2019. A total of 20 articles (reporting 1736 patients) were included. Meta-analysis showed that, compared to TACE alone, TACE + MWA resulted in significantly higher 1-, 2-, and 3-year overall survival (OS) (1-year OS rate: RR = 1.36, 95% CI 1.28-1.44, P < 0.001; 2-year OS rate: RR = 1.56, 95% CI 1.40-1.74, P < 0.001 and 3-year OS rate: RR = 2.07, 95% CI: 1.67-2.57, P < 0.001). Complete response, partial response, and objective response rates were significantly higher in TACE + MWA than those in TACE alone (P < 0.001). Meanwhile, publication bias and sensitivity analysis were performed and did not show statistical significance.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.