Treatment choice for early-stage hepatocellular carcinoma in real-world practice: impact of treatment stage migration to transarterial chemoembolization and treatment response on survival

Abstract

Objective: The objectives of our study were firstly to characterize the treatment stage migration phenomenon in early (Barcelona Clinic Liver Cancer [BCLC]-0/A) stage hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) by comparing the efficacy of curative therapies with trans-arterial chemoembolization [TACE] and secondly, determining baseline and on-treatment predictors of survival. Methods: All patients within BCLC-0/A stage from six tertiary hospitals who received curative therapy with either resection, transplantation, or ablation or TACE as first-line treatment were included in the analyses. The primary endpoint was overall survival; secondary end-points were transplant-free survival and recurrence-free su..