Prognostic factors for transarterial chemoembolization combined with sustained oxaliplatin-based hepatic arterial infusion chemotherapy of colorectal cancer liver metastasis

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the prognostic factors in chemorefractory colorectal cancer liver metastasis (CRCLM) patients treated by transarterial chemoembolization (TACE) and sustained hepatic arterial infusion chemotherapy (HAIC). METHODS: Between 2006 and 2015, 162 patients who underwent 763 TACE and HAIC in total were enrolled in this retrospective study, including 110 males and 52 females, with a median age of 60 (range, 26–83) years. Prognostic factors were assessed with Log-rank test, Cox univariate and multivariate analyses. RESULTS: The median survival time (MST) and median progression-free survival (PFS) of the 162 patients from first TACE/HAIC were 15.6 months and 5.5 months respectively. Normal serum carbohydrate antigen 19-9 (CA19-9, <37 U/mL) (P<0.001) and carbohydrate antigen 72-4 (CA72-4, <6.7 U/mL) (P=0.026), combination with other local treatment (liver radiotherapy or liver radiofrequency ablation) (P=0.034) and response to TACE/HAIC (P<0.001) were significant factors related to survival after TACE/HAIC in univariate analysis. A multivariate analysis revealed that normal serum CA19-9 (P<0.001), response to TACE/HAIC (P<0.001) and combination with other local treatment (P=0.001) were independent factors among them. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings indicate that serum CA19-9 <37 U/mL and response to TACE/HAIC are significant prognostic indicators for this combined treatment, and treated with other local treatment could reach a considerable survival benefit for CRCLM. This could be useful for making decisions regarding the treatment of CRCLM.