Efficacy of Adjuvant Transarterial Chemoembolization Combined Antiviral Therapy for HBV-Related HCC with MVI after Hepatic Resection: A Multicenter Study

BACKGROUND: Efficacy of transarterial chemoembolization (TACE) combined antiviral therapy (AVT) on long-term outcome in hepatitis B virus-related HCC with microvascular invasion (MVI) after hepatic resection is unclear. METHODS: A multicenter retrospective study was conducted. All patients were divided into four groups according to postoperative adjuvant therapy (control group, AVT group, TACE group, and combined group). The overall survival (OS) and recurrence-free survival (RFS) were analyzed. RESULTS: A total of 1090 patients were enrolled in this study, including control group (n=319), TACE group (n=152), AVT group (n=335) and combined group (n=284). Multivariate Cox analysis showed that postoperative adjuvant AVT and TACE were the independent protective factors for OS and RFS. The median OS among the control group, TACE group, AVT group, and the combined group were 16.44, 18.36 months, 38.88 months, and 48.24 months respectively(p<0.01). The median RFS among 4 group were 4.68, 5.40 months, 8.64 months and 10.32 months respectively(p<0.01). CONCLUSIONS: Postoperative adjuvant TACE and AVT were the independent protective factors associated with mortality and tumor recurrence in HBV-related HCC with MVI after resection. This combined treatment strategy may provide useful clinical significance in the prevention of tumor recurrence in these patients.