Validation of the ALBI-TAE model and comparison of seven scoring systems for predicting survival outcome in patients with intermediate‐stage hepatocellular carcinoma undergoing chemoembolization

BACKGROUND: The ALBI-TAE model was recently proposed as a scoring system to select suitable patients with intermediate-stage hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) for transarterial chemoembolization (TACE). However, this scoring system has not been externally validated. Therefore, we validated this score and compared it with six scoring systems in terms of prognostication. METHODS: We retrospectively enrolled 480 patients with intermediate-stage HCC who underwent TACE at a tertiary care center between January 2008 and December 2019. Seven scores, which included the ALBI-TAE model, Bolondi’s subclassification, HAP score, mHAP-II score, tumor burden score, six-and-twelve score, and seven-eleven criteria, were calculated and a head-to-head comparison was made in terms of prognostic power using Harrell’s C-index. Prognostic factors associated with survival were analyzed. RESULTS: ALBI-TAE group A had the longest median overall survival (OS) of 40.80 months, followed by ALBI-TAE groups B, C, and D of 20.14 months, 10.58 months, and 7.54 months, respectively, with significant differences (P < 0.001). Among the seven scores, the ALBI-TAE model had the best predictive performance (Harrell’s C-index 0.633) in differentiating OS in intermediate-stage HCC patients. Moreover, the ALBI-TAE model was identified as an independent prognostic factor for survival outcome in multivariate analysis. CONCLUSION: Our study confirmed the value of the ALBI-TAE model with excellent prognostic discriminatory power in intermediate-stage HCC patients. The ALBI-TAE model is a simple and valuable predictive tool to identify patients with good prognosis who can get the most benefit from TACE.