Observational studyCancer medicine2025
Transarterial Chemoembolization With or Without Systemic Therapy for Unresectable Hepatocellular Carcinoma: A Retrospective Comparative Study.
Observational study in Cancer medicine, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 3 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
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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
3 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Efficacy of PD-1/PD-L1 inhibitors combined with anti-VEGF/TKIs and TACE in uHCC: a meta-analysis.Frontiers in oncology · 2026Pooled it
- Survival Benefit of Combined Systemic and Locoregional Therapy in Hepatocellular Carcinoma with Portal Vein Tumor Thrombus: A Propensity Score-Matched Analysis.Liver cancer · 2026Article
- Treatment for intermediate and advanced-stage hepatocellular carcinoma: does systemic therapy synergize the therapeutic efficacy of TACE?Frontiers in immunology · 2026Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
14 authors.
Funding
Abstract
introductionStandard treatments provide limited benefits for patients with intermediate- or advanced-stage hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). This retrospective observational study aimed to assess the potential improvements in outcomes associated with systemic therapies in patients receiving transarterial chemoembolization (TACE) for initially unresectable HCC.
methodsBetween February 2019 and March 2023, we reviewed patients diagnosed with intermediate-to-advanced HCC who were treated with either TACE or TACE combined with antiangiogenic agents and immune checkpoint inhibitors (combination therapy) as their initial treatment. To address potential confounding biases, patients were further stratified into surgical and non-surgical cohorts, and separate analyses were conducted. The primary endpoints were progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS), with safety profiles also evaluated.
resultsAmong 279 patients with initially unresectable intermediate or advanced HCC, 156 successfully underwent curative-intent liver resection after preoperative treatments (TACE group, n = 69; combination group, n = 87), while 123 patients continued with non-surgical treatments (TACE group, n = 31; combination group, n = 92). After propensity score matching, 26 matched patient pairs were generated within the non-surgical cohort. The combination group exhibited significantly improved PFS in non-surgical patients compared with the TACE group (9.4 vs. 7.2 months, p = 0.043). Cox proportional hazards analysis further confirmed that combination therapy was associated with improved PFS (hazard ratio = 0.476, 95% confidence interval: 0.257-0.883, p = 0.019). For surgical patients exceeding the up-to-seven criteria, the combination group demonstrated superior median PFS (18.0 vs. 14.6 months, p = 0.03) and OS (not reached vs. 50.1 months, p = 0.049) compared with the TACE group. Adverse events were manageable, with no treatment-related fatalities reported.
conclusionCombination therapy with TACE demonstrated enhanced survival benefits for patients with intermediate to advanced HCC, particularly in surgical patients with higher tumor burdens.
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