A Real-world Study of the Short-term Efficacy and Safety of Elaboration Transcatheter Arterial Chemoembolization (E-TACE) in Patients With Hepatocellular Carcinoma (HCC)

Primary liver cancer is the fourth common malignant tumor and the second cause of death in China, which seriously threatens the life and health of Chinese people. Hepatocellular carcinoma accounts for 75% to 85% of primary liver cancer and is considered the leading cause of death in patients with cirrhosis, and its incidence is expected to continue to increase.

At present, the main treatment methods of liver cancer are surgical resection, liver transplantation, interventional therapy, etc., HCC patients are often advanced in initial diagnosis, coupled with cirrhosis, liver function intolerance and other factors, only about 15% of patients can receive surgical resection. Transcatheter arterial chemoembolization (TACE) has been applied in hepatocellular carcinoma for more than 40 years. TACE treatment can be divided into conventional TACE and Drug-eluting beads-transarterial chemoembolization (DEB-TACE) according to different embolic agents. DEB-TACE refers to the embolization therapy based on drug-eluting microspheres loaded with chemotherapy drugs, which can embolize the blood supplying artery of liver cancer to cause tumor ischemia and necrosis. At the same time, as a carrier of chemotherapy drugs, DEB-TACE has the advantage of continuously and steadily releasing drugs, so that the local tumor can reach a higher required concentration. Elaboration transcatheter arterial chemoembolization (E-TACE) is the elaboration transcatheter arterial branch selection of the tumor and the refined embolization is carried out by using uniform drug-loaded microsphere.

Although there have been a large number of randomized controlled studies on TACE treatment of HCC, due to the clear inclusion or exclusion criteria of randomized controlled studies. The results of the studies are different from the real diagnosis and treatment environment due to the limitations of treatment programs. This difference is called the efficacy effectiveness gap (EEG). In addition, the 2022 edition of China Liver Cancer Standard Diagnosis and Treatment Quality Control Indicators and 2022 edition of Primary Liver Cancer Diagnosis and Treatment Guidelines point out that TACE treatment for liver cancer needs to be standardized and refined, to reduce the heterogeneity of tumors leading to differences in TACE efficacy, and ultimately improve the survival rate and survival habits of liver cancer patients. There are currently no real-world studies on the efficacy and safety of E-TACE in the treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma. Therefore, this study intends to conduct a real-world study to evaluate the short-term efficacy and safety of E-TACE in the treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma.