Clinical Effectiveness of Drug-Eluting Microsphere Transcatheter Arterial Chemoembolization Combined with First-Line Chemotherapy as the Initial Treatment for Patients with Unresectable Intrahepatic Cholangiocarcinoma

Shuyang Luo; Zhanwang Xiang; Mingan Li; Chenghao Zhao; Huzheng Yan; Mingsheng Huang

doi:10.1016/j.jvir.2024.08.006

Clinical Effectiveness of Drug-Eluting Microsphere Transcatheter Arterial Chemoembolization Combined with First-Line Chemotherapy as the Initial Treatment for Patients with Unresectable Intrahepatic Cholangiocarcinoma

J Vasc Interv Radiol. 2024 Aug 12:S1051-0443(24)00508-6. doi: 10.1016/j.jvir.2024.08.006. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Shuyang Luo¹, Zhanwang Xiang¹, Mingan Li¹, Chenghao Zhao¹, Huzheng Yan¹, Mingsheng Huang²

Affiliations

¹ Department of Interventional Radiology, the Third Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, China.
² Department of Interventional Radiology, the Third Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, China. Electronic address: huangmsh@mail.sysu.edu.cn.

PMID: 39142516
DOI: 10.1016/j.jvir.2024.08.006

Abstract

Purpose: To evaluate the safety and effectiveness of the combination of drug-eluting microsphere (DEM) transcatheter arterial chemoembolization (TACE) with those of chemotherapy in treating unresectable intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (ICC).

Materials and methods: Seventy patients diagnosed with unresectable ICC between January 2016 and December 2020 were retrospectively included in this study. Of these, 39 patients received DEM-TACE and first-line chemotherapy (TACE+Chemo group) and 31 received chemotherapy alone (Chemo group). Propensity score matching was performed to reduce selection bias between the TACE+Chemo and the Chemo groups. Differences in tumor response, progression-free survival (PFS), overall survival (OS), and treatment-related adverse events (TRAEs) were compared between 2 two groups.

Results: The patients in the TACE+Chemo group had better median OS (18.6 vs 11.9 months; P = .018), median PFS (11.9 vs 6.9 months, P = .033), and objective response rates (56.8% vs 13.3%; P < .001) than those in the Chemo group. TRAEs showed a higher incidence of transient elevation of transaminase and abdominal pain in the TACE+Chemo group than in the Chemo group (P < .001).

Conclusions: Compared with chemotherapy alone, DEM-TACE combined with first-line chemotherapy may be a viable and safe treatment option for unresectable ICC.