Classification of hepatocellular carcinoma diameter by statistical technology and prognostic evaluation in patients after the combined use of transarterial chemoembolization and radiofrequency ablation

ABSTRACT

Objective: This study aimed to classify hepatocellular carcinomas (HCCs) according to their diameter using statistic technology and evaluate the prognosis of the classified groups after the combined use of transarterial chemoembolization (TACE) and radiofrequency ablation (RFA). Materials and Methods: Electronic medical records of 128 consecutive patients who underwent TACE-RFA as the initial treatment for HCC from January 2010 to April 2018 were retrospectively analyzed. TACE was initially performed with subsequent RFA performed after 3–7 days. The decision tree model was used to classify overall survival (OS), progression-free survival (PFS), local recurrence rate (LRR), and treatment complications in HCC. Results: The tumors were divided into three groups of sizes ≤2.9 cm, 2.9–4.8 cm, and >4.8 cm. The group of tumors >4.8 cm showed inferior OS, PFS, and LRR than the other two groups (P < 0.05) on long-term follow-up but not in thefirst 6 months (P > 0.05). The groups of tumors ≤2.9 cm and 2.9–4.8 cm showed no statistically significant difference in OS, PFS, and LRR (P > 0.05). Conclusions: The cutoff points of 2.9 and 4.8 cm were achieved using the objective decision tree model rather than the artificial division of 3 and 5 cm. The prognosis was not significantly different between the groups of tumors ≤2.9 cm and 2.9–4.8 cm, and the prognosis of the two groups was better than the group of tumors >4.8 cm in the long-term follow-up but not in thefirst 6 months