Tumor-feeding artery diameter reduction is associated with improved short-term effect of hepatic arterial infusion chemotherapy plus lenvatinib treatment

doi:10.3748/wjg.v28.i26.3232

Advanced Search

BPG is committed to discovery and dissemination of knowledge

Home / Archive / Volume 28, Issue 26

This Article

Peer-Review Report of This Article

CrossCheck and Google Search of This Article

Academic Rules and Norms of This Article

Citation of this article

Corresponding Author of This Article

Research Domain of This Article

Article-Type of This Article

Open-Access Policy of This Article

Times Cited Counts in Google of This Article

Number of Hits and Downloads for This Article

Total Article Views (6859)

All Articles published online

The chart showing PDF series, WORD series, HTML series, Figures (1-3) series, Tables (1-3) series.

Item

Count

PDF

363

WORD

HTML

2983

Figures (1-3)

620

Tables (1-3)

629

Sum=4660

Publishing Process of This Article

The chart showing Browse series, Download series.

Item

Count

Browse

498

Download

1691

Sum=2189

Jul 14, 2022 (publication date) through Mar 1, 2026

Times Cited of This Article

Times Cited (4)

Journal Information of This Article

Publication Name

World Journal of Gastroenterology

ISSN

1007-9327

Publisher of This Article

Baishideng Publishing Group Inc, 7041 Koll Center Parkway, Suite 160, Pleasanton, CA 94566, USA

- Full Article with Cover (PDF)
- Full Article (XML)

Retrospective Study

World J Gastroenterol. Jul 14, 2022; 28(26): 3232-3242
Published online Jul 14, 2022. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v28.i26.3232

Tumor-feeding artery diameter reduction is associated with improved short-term effect of hepatic arterial infusion chemotherapy plus lenvatinib treatment

De-Di Wu, Xiao-Feng He, Chen Tian, Peng Peng, Chuan-Li Chen, Xue-Han Liu, Hua-Jin Pang

De-Di Wu, Xiao-Feng He, Chen Tian, Peng Peng, Hua-Jin Pang, Division of Vascular and Interventional Radiology, Department of General Surgery, Nanfang Hospital, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou 510515, Guangdong Province, China

Chuan-Li Chen, Medical Imaging Center, Nanfang Hospital, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou 510515, Guangdong Province, China

Xue-Han Liu, Department of Statistics, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430000, Hubei Province, China

Author contributions: Wu DD and Pang HJ designed this study; Wu DD, Tian C, and Chen CL performed the reconstruction and measurement; Wu DD, Liu XH, and Pang HJ analyzed the data; Peng P collected the clinical data; Wu DD wrote the paper; He XF and Pang HJ made critical revisions to the paper; all authors approved the publication of the paper.

Institutional review board statement: The research was conducted in accordance with the 1975 Declaration of Helsinki and approved by the medical ethics committee of Nanfang Hospital, Southern Medical University.

Informed consent statement: The requirement for informed consent was waived owing to the retrospective nature of the study.

Conflict-of-interest statement: There was no conflict of interest to disclose.

Data sharing statement: No additional data are available.

Corresponding author: Hua-Jin Pang, PhD, Associate Chief Physician, Associate Professor, Division of Vascular and Interventional Radiology, Department of General Surgery, Nanfang Hospital, Southern Medical University, No. 1838 North Baiyun Avenue, Guangzhou 510515, Guangdong Province, China. nfyyphj@163.com

Received: January 22, 2022
Peer-review started: January 22, 2022
First decision: March 8, 2022
Revised: March 17, 2022
Accepted: June 18, 2022
Article in press: June 18, 2022
Published online: July 14, 2022
Processing time: 172 Days and 2.9 Hours

ARTICLE HIGHLIGHTS

Research background

Combination of hepatic arterial infusion chemotherapy (HAIC) and lenvatinib has been frequently used to treat unresectable hepatocellular carcinoma (uHCC) in China.

Research motivation

Shrinkage of hepatic arteries after the combination therapy is a common phenomenon and may early reflect the antitumor response, the relationship between which needs further exploration.

Research objectives

To investigate the relationship between hepatic artery diameters reduction and the short-term efficacy of HAIC plus lenvatinib.

Research methods

Sixty-seven patients with uHCC receiving HAIC plus lenvatinib were analyzed retrospectively. The modified Response Evaluation Criteria in Solid Tumors was used to assess the antitumor response after 1, 3, and 6 mo of treatment. The measurement of hepatic artery diameters before treatment and after 1 and 2 mo of treatment were conducted in a computed tomography image post-processing workstation. Meanwhile, the changes in tumor capillaries were also examined on pathological specimens before and after 1 mo of treatment.

Research results

All the hepatic artery diameters and the microvessel density in the tumor lesions were significantly decreased after the combination treatment (all P < 0.001). Shrinkage of the tumor-feeding artery (TFA) was significantly associated with the antitumor response after 1, 3, and 6 mo of treatment (P < 0.001, P = 0.004, and P = 0.023, respectively) and an independent factor for treatment efficacy (P = 0.001, P = 0.001, and P = 0.002 and 1, 3, and 6 mo, respectively).

Research conclusions

The retrospective study demonstrated that the shrinkage of the TFA diameter was closely related to improved short-term efficacy of treatment with HAIC plus lenvatinib for the first time.

Research perspectives

We believe the findings in this paper will be of interest to the researchers in uHCC. Further, prospective randomized multicenter trials are needed to confirm the relationship between the morphological change in TFA and the early therapeutic effect of uHCC treatment.