Meta-Analysis
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2025. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Gastrointest Oncol. Jun 15, 2025; 17(6): 105887
Published online Jun 15, 2025. doi: 10.4251/wjgo.v17.i6.105887
Transarterial chemoembolization combined with lenvatinib vs transarterial chemoembolization combined with sorafenib for unresectable hepatocellular carcinoma: A systematic review and meta-analysis
Wei Zhang, Hua Fu, Zi-Rong Liu, Lin Xu, Xu Che, Yan-Ting Ning, Zheng-Yin Zhan, Guo-Chao Zhou
Wei Zhang, Zi-Rong Liu, Lin Xu, Xu Che, Zheng-Yin Zhan, Department of Hepatobiliary and Pancreatic Surgery, National Cancer Center/National Clinical Research Center for Cancer/Cancer Hospital & Shenzhen Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College, Shenzhen 518116, Guangdong Province, China
Hua Fu, Guo-Chao Zhou, Department of Hepatobiliary Surgery, People’s Hospital of Xiangxi Autonomous Prefecture, Jishou 416000, Hunan Province, China
Yan-Ting Ning, Department of Nursing, National Cancer Center/National Clinical Research Center for Cancer/Cancer Hospital & Shenzhen Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College, Shenzhen 518116, Guangdong Province, China
Co-first authors: Wei Zhang and Hua Fu.
Co-corresponding authors: Zheng-Yin Zhan and Guo-Chao Zhou.
Author contributions: Zhang W and Fu H were responsible for drafting the manuscript, data acquisition, and interpretation of the data, they contributed equally as co-first authors; Liu ZR, Xu L, and Che X were responsible for the design of the study; Ning YT, Zhan ZY, and Zhou GC were responsible for the design of the study and the revision of the manuscript; Zhan ZY and Zhou GC contributed equally to this article as co-corresponding authors.
Supported by the Shenzhen High-Level Hospital Construction Fund, the Sanming Project of Medicine in Shenzhen, No. SZSM202011010; Intramural Research Projects of Shenzhen Hospital, Cancer Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, No. SZ2020MS010; and the Scientific Research Program Fund of Hunan Provincial Health Commission, No. 202204014693.
Conflict-of-interest statement: All the authors report no relevant conflicts of interest for this article.
PRISMA 2009 Checklist statement: The authors have read the PRISMA 2009 Checklist, and the manuscript was prepared and revised according to the PRISMA 2009 Checklist.
Open Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Guo-Chao Zhou, Department of Hepatobiliary Surgery, People’s Hospital of Xiangxi Autonomous Prefecture, Intersection of Century Avenue and Jianxin Road, Jishou 416000, Hunan Province, China. zhouguochao5506@sina.com
Received: February 10, 2025
Revised: March 25, 2025
Accepted: April 23, 2025
Published online: June 15, 2025
Processing time: 124 Days and 10.8 Hours
Core Tip

Core Tip: In this study, we compared the efficacy of transarterial chemoembolization (TACE)-lenvatinib and TACE-sorafenib against unresectable hepatocellular carcinoma. The TACE-lenvatinib group had higher tumor response rate than the TACE-sorafenib group. We also found that both overall survival and progression-free-survival were higher in the TACE-lenvatinib group than in the TACE-sorafenib group. The TACE-lenvatinib group had a higher incidence of hypertension. Therefore, the combination of TACE and lenvatinib resulted in better tumor response rates and survival outcomes in unresectable hepatocellular carcinoma patients compared to TACE-sorafenib, although the former was associated with a higher incidence of hypertension.