Predictive model for acute abdominal pain after transarterial chemoembolization for liver cancer

Table 1 Demographic, clinical, laboratory, and procedural variables of patients (1)

Variable	n	mean ± SD	Median (IQR)	Min	Max
Age (yr)	582	60.1 ± 11.4	60 (53, 67)	23	87
Number of TACE	582	2.5 ± 2.2	2 (1, 3)	1	15
Dose of Lipiodol (mL)	582	4.7 ± 6.8	3 (0, 6)	0	30

TACE: Transarterial hepatic chemoembolization; IQR: Interquartile range.

Table 2 Demographic, clinical, laboratory, and procedural variables of patients (2)

Variable	n	%
Sex
Female	81	13.9
Male	501	86.1
Disease type
No surgery	371	63.7
Recurrence after surgery	211	36.3
TACE history	333	57.2
History of abdominal pain after TACE	73	12.5
Pathological properties
HCC	280	48.1
ICC	13	2.2
Unknown	265	45.5
Other	24	4.1
Tumor size
≤ 5 cm	334	57.4
> 5 cm	248	42.6
Number of tumors
≤ 2 (non-multiple)	197	33.8
> 2 (multiple)	385	66.2
Invasion of blood vessels	176	30.2
Blank microsphere	138	23.7
PVA particles	63	10.8
Method of TACE
Traditional TACE	336	57.7
DEB-TACE	246	42.3
Prophylactic analgesics
Tenay	74	12.7
Kaffin	112	19.2
Dezocine	252	43.3
Pentam	29	5
None	58	10
Two painkillers	57	9.8
Pain after TACE
No pain/mild pain	485	83.3
Moderate pain/severe pain	97	16.7

TACE: Transarterial hepatic chemoembolization; DEB-TACE: Transarterial chemoembolization with drug-eluting beads; HCC: Hepatocellular carcinoma; ICC: Intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma; PVA: Polyvinyl alcohol.

Table 3 Effects of variables on outcomes (univariate analysis)

Variable	No pain/mild pain (n = 485)	Moderate pain/severe pain (n = 97)	P value
Age (yr), mean ± SD	60.79 ± 11.39	56.87 ± 10.99	0.002
Sex (%)			0.870
Female	68 (14)	13 (13.4)
Male	417 (86)	84 (86.6)
Disease type (%)			0.010
No surgery	298 (61.4)	73 (75.3)
Recurrence after surgery	187 (38.6)	24 (24.7)
TACE history (%)	293 (60.4)	40 (41.2)	< 0.001
History of abdominal pain after TACE (%)	51 (10.5)	22 (22.7)	< 0.001
Pathological properties (%)			0.110
HCC	231 (47.6)	49 (50.5)
ICC	8 (1.6)	5 (5.2)
Unknown	224 (46.2)	41 (42.3)
Other	22 (4.5)	2 (2.1)
Tumor location (distance to liver capsule) (%)			0.085
> 1 cm	245 (81.40)	50 (90.91)
≤ 1 cm	56 (18.60)	5 (9.09)
Tumor size (%)			< 0.001
≤ 5 cm	294 (60.6)	40 (41.2)
> 5 cm	191 (39.4)	57 (58.8)
Number of tumors (%)			0.010
≤ 2 (non-multiple)	175 (36.1)	22 (22.7)
> 2 (multiple)	310 (63.9)	75 (77.3)
Invasion of blood vessels (%)	131 (27)	45 (46.4)	< 0.001
Blank microsphere (%)	112 (23.1)	26 (26.8)	0.430
Polyvinyl alcohol particles (%)	54 (11.1)	9 (9.3)	0.590
Method of TACE (%)			< 0.001
Traditional TACE	296 (61)	40 (41.2)
DEB-TACE	189 (39)	57 (58.8)
Prophylactic analgesics (%)			0.780
Parecoxib Na	58 (12)	16 (16.5)
Flurbiprofen	97 (20)	15 (15.5)
Dezocine	209 (43.1)	43 (44.3)
Pentazocine	24 (4.9)	5 (5.2)
None	48 (9.9)	10 (10.3)
Two painkillers	49 (10.1)	8 (8.2)
Number of TACE, median (IQR)	2 (1, 3)	1 (1, 2)	< 0.001
Dosage of lipiodol, median (IQR)	3 (0, 6)	0 (0, 8)	0.179

TACE: Transarterial hepatic chemoembolization; HCC: Hepatocellular carcinoma; ICC: Intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma; PVA: Polyvinyl alcohol; DEB: Drug-eluting beads; IQR: Interquartile range.