Surgical resection versus transarterial chemoembolization followed by moderately hypofractionated radiotherapy in hepatocellular carcinoma

Transarterial chemoembolization (TACE) is the gold standard treatment in intermediate hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), but long-term disease control rates remain low. Herein, we compared results of TACE followed by hypofractionated radiotherapy (TACE-hRT) to surgical resection (SR) in early single or paucinodular intrahepatic HCC. Between June 2004 and November 2016, data on 160 consecutive patients with Barcelona Clinic Liver Cancer (BCLC) stage A Child–Pugh A HCC treated with SR or TACE-hRT in our expert center were retrospectively reviewed. Time to progression (TTP), progression-free survival (PFS), and overall survival (OS) were evaluated. Clinical outcomes were compared using the stabilized-weights inverse probability of treatment weighting propensity score. Ninety-eight patients underwent SR and 62 were treated by TACE-hRT. Median total dose of RT was 54 Gy (interquartile range [IQR] 54–54) in 3‑Gy fractions. Median OS follow-up was 93 months. TTP did not significantly differ between patients following SR and TACE-hRT, with 1‑year rates of 68.2% and 82.6% (p = 0.17), respectively. In contrast, PFS and OS were lower in the TACE-hRT group (p = 0.015 and p = 0.006), with a median OS of 37 vs. 63 months for patients with surgery and TACE-hRT, respectively. In multivariate analysis, a significant negative impact on PFS and OS was seen for age at diagnosis, on TTP for alcohol-related liver disease, and on OS for total number of HCC nodules. Symptomatic grade ≥ 3 adverse events were presented by 42 (42.9%) SR and 19 (30.6%) TACE-hRT patients (p = 0.17). In patients presenting Child–Pugh A BCLC‑A HCC with high risk for surgical complications, TACE-hRT can be an effective and safe treatment. However, surgical management remains the standard of care whenever possible.