Cancer Research and Treatment

Original Article

Gastrointestinal cancer

Combined Transarterial Chemoembolization and External Beam Radiotherapy for Identifying Surgical Candidates for Hepatocellular Carcinoma with Macroscopic Vascular Invasion: A Propensity Score–Weighted Analysis: Sumin Lee, Jinhong Jung, Jonggi Choi, So Yeon Kim, Jin Hyoung Kim, Danbi Lee, Ju Hyun Shim, Kang Mo Kim, Young-Suk Lim, Han Chu Lee, Gi-Won Song, Jin-hong Park, Sang Min Yoon; Cancer Res Treat. 2026;58(1):275-283. Published online May 22, 2025; DOI: https://doi.org/10.4143/crt.2025.076

Abstract PDF Supplementary Material PubReader ePub

Purpose
This study aimed to evaluate the role of hepatic resection in patients with objective responses after combined transarterial chemoembolization (TACE) and radiotherapy (RT) for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) with macroscopic vascular invasion (MVI).
Materials and Methods
We retrospectively reviewed the patients treated with combined TACE and RT for HCC with MVI between 2010 and 2015. Some of the patients with objective responses underwent hepatic resection or liver transplantation; to investigate the impact of surgery, patients with objective responses who did not undergo surgery were selected as the control group. Survival outcomes were compared using a propensity score–based stabilized inverse probability of treatment weighting method.
Results
Out of the 170 patients with objective responses after combined TACE and RT, 41 patients underwent surgery, including eight liver transplantations. The unweighted surgery group was younger and had a higher proportion of solitary tumors and unilateral vascular involvement. After adjustment, the 3-year overall survival (OS) rates were 61.0% and 28.6% in the surgery and non-surgery groups, respectively. The most important prognostic factor for OS was surgery (adjusted Cox hazard ratio [HR], 0.28; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.17 to 0.46; p < 0.001). Complete response after TACE and RT (vs. partial response) was also a significant prognostic factor for OS (adjusted HR, 0.41; 95% CI, 0.27 to 0.61; p < 0.001). There was no surgical mortality. Four patients (9.8%) required additional surgery due to bleeding or graft failure.
Conclusion
Hepatic resection was significantly associated with improved OS in patients who showed objective responses after receiving combined TACE and RT for HCC with MVI.

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Multimodal deep learning model for predicting prognosis following radiotherapy-based combination therapy in unresectable hepatocellular carcinoma
Haoming Xia, Qizhen Huang, Ziyue Huang, Ziqi Zhou, Yongyi Zeng, Jingguang Ma, Xiangyu Fan, Yechong Huang, Yuexi Dong, Haitao Zhao, Gong Li, Jitao Wang, Shizhong Yang, Jiahong Dong
Cancer Letters.2026; 636: 218122. CrossRef

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