SynthesisWorld journal of surgical oncology2021
Individual or combined transcatheter arterial chemoembolization and radiofrequency ablation for hepatocellular carcinoma: a time-to-event meta-analysis.
Synthesis in World journal of surgical oncology, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 40 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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
40 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 61 citations in OpenAlex.
- A network meta-analysis of different interventional treatment strategies for unresectable hepatocellular carcinoma.BMC gastroenterology · 2025Pooled it
- The efficacy and safety of Apatinib combined with TACE in the treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma: a meta-analysis.World journal of surgical oncology · 2022Pooled it
- TACE combined with DynaCT-guided MWA in the treatment of high-risk location liver cancers with ≤5 cm tumor size.Frontiers in oncology · 2026Article
- Modern approach to hepatocellular carcinoma treatment.World journal of hepatology · 2025Review
- Conventional transarterial chemoembolization followed by irreversible electroporation for hepatocellular carcinoma.BMC cancer · 2025Article
- Thermal ablation combined with percutaneous injection of amphotericin B for the treatment of chronic pulmonary aspergillosis: a case series.Frontiers in medicine · 2025Article
- Efficacy and safety of D-TACE followed by D-RFA for unresectable large hepatocellular carcinoma.Frontiers in oncology · 2025Article
- Current Treatment Methods in Hepatocellular Carcinoma.Cancers · 2024Review
- Non-Operating Room Anesthesia (NORA) for Ultrasound-Guided Liver Radiofrequency Ablation.Diagnostics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Article
- Microwave ablation followed by cTACE in 5-cm HCC lesions: does a single-session approach affect liver function?La Radiologia medica · 2024Article
- Combined transarterial chemoembolization and thermal ablation in candidates to liver transplantation with hepatocellular carcinoma: pathological findings and post-transplant outcome.La Radiologia medica · 2024Article
- Radiofrequency ablation combined with transcatheter arterial chemoembolization for recurrent liver cancer.World journal of gastrointestinal surgery · 2024Article
- [Guidelines for image-guided ablation of primary liver cancer (2023 version)].Zhonghua gan zang bing za zhi = Zhonghua ganzangbing zazhi = Chinese journal of hepatology · 2024Article
- Efficacy and safety of transcatheter arterial chemoembolization combined with sorafenib and sintilimab in the treatment of unresectable hepatocellular carcinoma.American journal of translational research · 2024Article
- Nomogram for predicting post-therapy recurrence in BCLC A/B hepatocellular carcinoma with Child-Pugh B cirrhosis.Frontiers in immunology · 2024Article
- Locoregional interventional therapy for hepatocellular carcinoma: radiologic and clinical factors predictive of untreatable progression and time to untreatable progression.Frontiers in pharmacology · 2024Article
- Threatment Strategies for Recurrent Hepatocellular Carcinoma Patients: Ablation and its Combination Patterns.Journal of Cancer · 2024Review
- Efficacy and Safety of Conversion Surgery for Advanced Hepatocellular Carcinoma After Hepatic Arterial Infusion Chemotherapy.Journal of hepatocellular carcinoma · 2024Article
- Review
- Ablative strategies for recurrent hepatocellular carcinoma.World journal of hepatology · 2023Review
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 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundThere is still some debate as to whether transcatheter arterial chemoembolization (TACE) plus radiofrequency ablation (RFA) is better than TACE or RFA alone. This meta-analysis aimed to compare the efficacy and safety of TACE plus RFA for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) with RFA or TACE alone.
methodsWe searched PubMed, MEDLINE, Embase, Cochrane Library, and CNKI (China National Knowledge Infrastructure) for all relevant randomized controlled trials and retrospective studies reporting overall survival (OS), recurrence-free survival (RFS), and complications of TACE plus RFA for HCC, compared with RFA or TACE alone.
resultsTwenty-one studies involving 3413 patients were included. TACE combined with RFA was associated with better OS (hazard ratio [HR]=0.62, 95% confidence intervals [CI] = 0.55-0.71, P < 0.001) and RFS (HR = 0.52, 95% CI = 0.39-0.69, P < 0.001) than TACE alone; compared with RFA alone, TACE plus RFA resulted in longer OS (HR = 0.63, 95% CI = 0.53-0.75, P < 0.001) and RFS (HR = 0.60, 95% CI = 0.51-0.71, P < 0.001). Subgroup analyses by tumor size also showed that combined treatment resulted in better OS and RFS compared with RFA alone in patients with HCC larger than 3 cm. Combined treatment resulted in similar rate of major complications compared with TACE or RFA alone (OR = 1.78, 95% CI = 0.99-3.20, P = 0.05; OR = 1.00, 95% CI = 0.42-2.38, P = 1.00, respectively).
conclusionsTACE combined with RFA was more effective for HCC than TACE alone. For patients with a tumor larger than 3 cm, the combined treatment also achieved a better effect than RFA alone.
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.