Brief Article
Copyright ©2013 Baishideng Publishing Group Co., Limited. All rights reserved.
World J Hepatol. Jul 27, 2013; 5(7): 364-371
Published online Jul 27, 2013. doi: 10.4254/wjh.v5.i7.364
Comparative effectiveness of traditional chemoembolization with or without sorafenib for hepatocellular carcinoma
Adnan Muhammad, Manish Dhamija, Gitanjali Vidyarthi, Donald Amodeo, William Boyd, Branko Miladinovic, Ambuj Kumar
Adnan Muhammad, Manish Dhamija, Department of Gastroenterology, University of South Florida, Tampa, FL 33620, United States
Gitanjali Vidyarthi, Donald Amodeo, William Boyd, Department of Gastroenterology, James A Haley VA Hospital, Tampa, FL 33612, United States
Branko Miladinovic, Ambuj Kumar, Department of Internal Medicine, Morsani College of Medicine, Center for Evidence Based Medicine, Tampa, FL 33620, United States
Author contributions: Muhammad A and Dhamija M designed and performed the research; Muhammad A and Vidyarthi G wrote the manuscript; Amodeo D and Boyd W edited the manuscript; Miladinovic B and Kumar A did statistical analysis; Kumar A edited the manuscript.
Correspondence to: Adnan Muhammad, MD, Department of Gastroenterology, University of South Florida, 12901 Bruce B. Downs Blvd, Tampa, FL 33620, United States. adnan_muhd@hotmail.com
Telephone: +1-813-9742034 Fax: +1-813-9745333
Received: April 15, 2013
Revised: June 2, 2013
Accepted: June 8, 2013
Published online: July 27, 2013
Processing time: 100 Days and 10.8 Hours
Core Tip

Core tip: The incidence of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is increasing and there is a need for better treatment modalities. Transarterial chemoembolization (TACE) and sorafenib are the main course of treatment for unresectable HCC. However there is an emphasis to combine them to improve survival. There is very limited data available to compare the effectiveness of TACE alone vs combination with sorafenib. Our results showed equal efficacy for both treatment arms without compromising adverse events. Child-Turcotte-Pugh classification and Barcelona Clinic Liver Cancer staging were significant predictors of survival. This study is the first reported in the literature comparing the outcome when treated with TACE alone vs TACE + sorafenib in United States patients.