Comparative Evaluation of Intraarterial Therapy Methods for Hepatocellular Cancer

Aim: to compare various methods of intraarterial therapy for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) in terms of survival, adverse events, and cost-effectiveness.

Key points. Hepatocellular carcinoma is a malignant liver tumor that originates from hepatocytes. This form of liver cancer is the most common and accounts for 85 % of cases. HCC is the seventh most common cancer and the third leading cause of cancer death worldwide. Unfortunately, the majority of patients with HCC are diagnosed at an advanced stage, when surgical treatment is impossible. Thus, new methods of therapy (including intraarterial) appear, which allow saving the lives of these patients. At present, new intraarterial methods of treatment include transarterial chemoinfusion (TACI), conventional transarterial chemoembolization (cTACE), drug-eluting-beads-TACE (debTACE) and radioembolization (RE).

Conclusion. As a result of studying various sources of world literature about comparing intraarterial methods of HCC treatment, a final table was compiled, which presents the main characteristics of each method. The methods have their advantages and disadvantages, however, according to the criteria of overall survival and progression-free survival, debTACE is in the lead. The most inexpensive method of those presented is TACI, however, in terms of economic efficiency, the method is not a priority, because for treatment with this method, a greater number of cycles is required, compared, for example, with TACE. The radioembolization is associated with the lowest risk of adverse events.

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