Poor prognosis for hepatocellular carcinoma with transarterial chemoembolization pre-transplantation: Retrospective analysis

Table 1 Statistical data of the groups with and without preoperative transarterial chemoembolization

Demographics	TACE (n = 88)	No TACE (n = 116)	t	P value
Age (yr)	49.34 ± 8.06	50.90 ± 7.70	-1.401	0.163
Child	7.33 ± 2.69	7.23 ± 2.46	0.267	0.789
MELD	8.36 ± 7.16	8.07 ± 5.74	0.324	0.747
IBL (mL)	2944.32 ± 4008.34	2528.79 ± 2681.56	0.886	0.377
IOA (mL)	1910.34 ± 2902.87	1539.53 ± 2532.91	0.972	0.332
AFP (ng/L)	3439.08 ± 6623.56	1922.59 ± 5180.01	1.835	0.068
Disease-free survival time (mo)	20.77 ± 17.52	32.79 ± 22.63	-4.131	< 0.001a
Survival time with tumor (mo)	1.88 ± 3.10	0.68 ± 2.10	3.278	0.001a

^aP < 0.05, TACE vs no TACE. TACE: Transarterial chemoembolization; Child: Child-Turcotte-Pugh classification; MELD: Model for end-stage liver disease; AFP: α-fetoprotein; IBL: Intraoperative blood loss; IOA: Intraoperative autotransfusion.

Table 2 Categorical data of the groups with and without preoperative transarterial chemoembolization treatment

Variables and stratification	TACE (n = 88)	No TACE (n = 116)	χ2	P value
Sex			0.352	0.553
Male	79	101
Female	9	15
MELD			5.269	0.072
< 15	80	104
15-25	5	12
> 25	3	0
Child			0.207	0.902
A	56	77
B	14	18
C	18	21
Operation method			1.874	0.171
CDLT	71	84
LDLT	17	32
AFP			14.141	0.003a
< 20	21	47
≤ 400	22	38
400-1000	18	9
> 1000	27	22
Tumor recurrence			21.983	< 0.001a
No	46	96
Yes	42	20
Complications			3.064	0.382
No	66	97
Complication of bile duct	8	9
Complication of vessel	7	6
Infection	7	4

^aP < 0.05, TACE vs no TACE. TACE: Transarterial chemoembolization; Child: Child-Turcotte-Pugh classification; MELD: Model for end-stage liver disease; AFP: α-fetoprotein; CDLT: Cadaveric donor liver transplantation; LDLT: Living donor liver transplantation.

Table 3 Postoperative pathological data for the two groups of patients

Variables and stratification	TACE (n = 88)	No TACE (n = 116)	χ2	P value
Tumor size			6.569	0.037a
Within Milan criteria	38	70
Within UCSF criteria	22	24
Beyond UCSF criteria	28	22
Vascular invasion			12.138	< 0.001a
No	48	90
Yes	40	26
Tumor Edmondson grade			2.521	0.112
Well-moderate	57	87
Moderate-poor	31	29
Number of tumors			15.632	< 0.001a
Solitary	38	82
Multiple	50	34

^aP < 0.05, TACE vs no TACE. TACE: Transarterial chemoembolization.

Table 4 Comparison of the groups with and without transarterial chemoembolization treatment at different times from the liver transplantation

	TACE			No TACE	χ2	P value
	≤1 mo	1-3 mo	≥3 mo
Milan criteria	2	1	8	5	16	0.001a
UCSF criteria	1	1	7	6	15	0.002a
BUCSF criteria	8	9	5	9	31	< 0.001a

^aP < 0.05, TACE vs no TACE. TACE: Transarterial chemoembolization.

Table 5 Tumor recurrence and metastasis in the groups with and without transarterial chemoembolization

	TACE				No TACE				χ2	P value
	Liver	Lung	Bone	M	Liver	Lung	Bone	M
Milan criteria	2	7	0	2	1	3	0	1	0.019	0.990
UCSF criteria	0	7	0	2	1	3	0	2	2.083	0.353
BUCSF criteria	3	11	0	8	5	3	1	0	10.459	0.015a

^aP < 0.05, TACE vs no TACE. TACE: Transarterial chemoembolization.