Retrospective Study
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2022. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Clin Cases. Jul 26, 2022; 10(21): 7275-7284
Published online Jul 26, 2022. doi: 10.12998/wjcc.v10.i21.7275
Clinical values of Barcelona Clinic Liver Cancer subgroup and up-to-7 criteria in intermediate stage hepatocellular carcinoma with transcatheter arterial chemoembolization
Shou-Wu Lee, Yen-Chun Peng, Han-Chung Lien, Chung-Wang Ko, Chun-Fang Tung, Chi-Sen Chang
Shou-Wu Lee, Yen-Chun Peng, Han-Chung Lien, Chung-Wang Ko, Chun-Fang Tung, Chi-Sen Chang, Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Department of Internal Medicine, Taichung Veterans General Hospital, Taichung 40705, Taiwan
Shou-Wu Lee, Yen-Chun Peng, Han-Chung Lien, Chung-Wang Ko, Chun-Fang Tung, Department of Internal Medicine, Yang Ming Chiao Tung University, Taipei 112304, Taiwan
Shou-Wu Lee, Han-Chung Lien, Department of Post-Baccalaureate Medicine, College of Medicine, Chung Hsing University, Taichung 40227, Taiwan
Shou-Wu Lee, Chi-Sen Chang, Department of Internal Medicine, Chung Shan Medical University, Taichung 40201, Taiwan
Author contributions: Lee SW, Peng YC and Chang CS designed the research study; Lee SW, Lien HC and Ko CW performed the research; Tung CF and Chang CS contributed new reagents and analytic tools; Lee SW, Lien HC and Tung CF analyzed the data and wrote the manuscript; all authors have read and approved the final manuscript.
Institutional review board statement: This study was reviewed and approved by Institutional Review Board (No. 104DHA0500198).
Informed consent statement: All study participants provided informed written consent prior to study enrollment.
Conflict-of-interest statement: All the authors report no relevant conflicts of interest for this article.
Data sharing statement: No additional data are available.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Shou-Wu Lee, MD, PhD, Assistant Professor, Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Department of Internal Medicine, Taichung Veterans General Hospital, No. 1650 Taiwan Boulevard, Sec. 4, Taichung 40705, Taiwan. ericest@vghtc.gov.tw
Received: May 21, 2021
Peer-review started: May 21, 2021
First decision: June 27, 2021
Revised: June 28, 2021
Accepted: June 3, 2022
Article in press: June 3, 2022
Published online: July 26, 2022
Processing time: 415 Days and 23.6 Hours
Core Tip

Core Tip: Transarterial chemoembolization (TACE) is the recommended treatment modality for the intermediate stage or the Barcelona Clinic Liver Cancer (BCLC) stage B hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) patients. However, due to the clinical heterogeneity in this population of patients, only some have a favorable outcome after TACE. In our study, we discovered that the intermediate stage HCC patients with smaller tumor size or within the up-to-7 criteria showed better survival outcomes for TACE. BCLC stage B subgroup is useful to predict refractoriness of HCC to TACE and to establish future therapeutic strategies.