INTRODUCTIONThe purpose of this meta-analysis was to compare the efficacy of transarterial chemoembolisation (TACE) and iodised oil infusion chemotherapy without embolisation (TAI) in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma.

MATERIALS AND METHODSWe searched for randomised controlled trials, retrospective cohort studies, and two-arm prospective studies that compared the clinical outcomes in patients who received TACE and TAI treatment. Database search was performed through 14 December 2016. Rates of survival and therapy response were compared using odds ratios (OR) with 95% confidence intervals (CI).

RESULTSSurvival rates and therapy response rates were similar between patients who received TACE and TAI treatments (pooled OR: 1.278; 95% CI, 0.783 to 2.086,= 0.327; and pooled OR: 1.502; 95% CI, 0.930 to 2.426,= 0.096, respectively).

CONCLUSIONOur results suggest that treatment intensification by adding embolisation did not increase overall survival and therapy response over TAI in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma.

ObjectiveTo investigate the safety and efficacy of re-hepatic resection (rHR) versus radiofrequency ablation (RFA) in the treatment of recurrent hepatocellular carcinoma (RHCC) in Asia through a meta-analysis. MethodsPubMed, CNKI, and Wanfang Data were searched for related studies published up to June 15, 2020. Two reviewers independently searched for the articles and extracted related data, and RevMan 5.4.1 was used to perform the meta-analysis. ResultsA total of 2 randomized controlled trials and 18 retrospective cohort studies met the inclusion criteria and involved 2903 patients with RHCC from Asian countries. The mortality rate in the perioperative period was 2% in the rHR group and 0 in the RFA group, and the incidence rate of perioperative complications was 22.4% in the rHR group and 3.3% in the RFA group. The 1-, 3-, and 5-year overall survival rates were 92.3%, 66.3%, and 51.1%, respectively, in the rHR group and 91.4%, 69.2%, and 39.9%, respectively, in the RFA group. The 1-, 3-, and 5-year disease-free survival rates were 67.9%, 48.3%, and 34.4%, respectively, in the rHR group and 57.5%, 27.9%, and 14.0%, respectively, in the RFA group. The Meta-analysis showed that there was no significant difference in overall survival rate between the two groups (hazard ratio ［HR］=089, 95% confidence interval ［CI］: 0.77-1.02, P=0.10), while the rHR group had a significantly higher disease-free survival rate than the RFA group (HR=0.79, 95% CI: 0.72-0.87, P＜0.001). ConclusionCurrent evidence shows that rHR may help to achieve a higher disease-free survival rate than RFA in the treatment of RHCC, while rHR and RFA have a similar overall survival rate.

Objective To study the correlation between serum prealbumin level before liver resection and prognosis of patients with primary hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).Methods The clinical data of patients with HCC who underwent liver resection at the Affiliated Tumor Hospital of Guangxi Medical University from August 2007 to October 2016 were retrospectively analyzed.The previous albumin of 200 mg/L and the pre-albumin as predicted by the maximum selection rank statistic method were used as the bounding group,and reduced groups and the correlation between pre-operative serum pre-albumin levels and clinicopathological characteristics were analyzed.The Kaplan-Meier method was used to calculate the overall survival rate of patients with the different cutoff levels.The Cox proportional regression model was used to analyze,and cirrhosis,alpha-fetoprotein levels and Barcelona Clinic Liver Cancer staging were used to adjust the relationship between serum prealbumin and prognosis of liver resection for HCC patients.Analysis of stratified variables was performed and their interactions with serum prealbumin were analyzed.Results Of the 2 022 patients included in this study,there were 1 739 males and 283 females.Their age was 49.5 ± 11.2 years.The median follow-up was 37.4 months.The optimal cutoff value of prealbumin predicted by the maximum selection rank statistic method was 166 mg/L.Regardless of the cutoff values of previous albumin 200 mg/L or prealbumin 166 mg/L,multivariate analysis showed that preoperative serum prealbumin level was an independent prognostic risk factor for patients (P ＜0.05).The prognosis of patients with ＞200 mg/L (＞ 166 mg/L) serum prealbumin before surgery was significantly better than that of patients with ≤200 mg/L (≤166 mg/L) prealbumin,the differences were significant (all P ＜ 0.05).After adjusting for confounding factors,the prealbumin level correlated with prognosis of patients with HCC [cutoff value 200 mg/L:HR (95％ CI) was 1.59 (1.35-1.86),cutoff value 166 mg/L:HR (95％ CI) was 1.69 (1.44-1.98),all P ＜ 0.05].The results of stratified analysis showed that the relationship between prealbumin levels and the prognosis of HCC patients became more robust.Conclusions Preoperative serum prealbumin was an independent risk factor for prognosis of HCC patients,and it had predictive value on prognosis of HCC patients.