Comparison of treatment response, survival and safety between drug-eluting bead transarterial chemoembolization with CalliSpheres® microspheres versus conventional transarterial chemoembolization in treating hepatocellular carcinoma

To compare the efficacy and safety between drug-eluting bead (DEB) transarterial chemoembolization (TACE) with CalliSpheres® microspheres (CSM) and conventional TACE (cTACE) in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) patients, and to explore the predictive factors for treatment response and survival.89 HCC patients receiving DEB-TACE with CSM or cTACE were consecutively recruited in this cohort study. Treatment response was assessed at month 1 (M1)/M3/M6. Progression free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) were calculated. Liver function indexes were measured at M1 and adverse events occurred during operation and hospitalization were recorded.Higher complete response (CR) rate and objective response rate (ORR) at M1/M3 in DEB-TACE group were found compared to cTACE group, and no difference of PFS and OS was noted between the two groups. Multivariate analysis of ORR, DFS and OS disclosed that multifocal disease, ALT≥1upper limit of normal (ULN) and ALP≥1ULN independently predicted lower ORR, while bilobar tumor location and abnormal CA19.9 level were independent predictive factors for unfavorable PFS. As for liver function, there was no difference of all liver function indexes changes (M1-M0) between the two groups. Moreover, DEB-TACE group displayed more frequent pain during treatment, and more frequent pain and fever during hospitalization compared to cTACE group.The short-term CR and ORR of DEB-TACE treatment with CSM are better, while OS, DFS and safety were equivalent compared to cTACE in treating HCC patients.