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. 2023 Jul 16;15(7):e41943. doi: 10.7759/cureus.41943

Table 1. Eligibility criteria for the studies included in this review.

RCT: randomized controlled trial; cTACE: conventional transarterial chemoembolizationc; DEB-TACE: drug-eluting bead TACE

Table credit: Javaria Ayyub

Inclusion criteria Exclusion criteria
RCTs, observational studies, meta-analyses, systematic reviews Animal studies, case reports, opinion articles, letters
Articles published in the last five years Articles published more than five years ago
Published articles Gray or unpublished literature
Papers in the English language Papers in a language other than English
Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) Population of non-HCC patients
Studies including a direct comparison of cTACE and DEB-TACE for the treatment of HCC Radioembolization, combination treatment with TACE, ablation, surgery, transplant, systemic treatment for HCC
Studies including patients who were treatment-naïve for HCC and received TACE as the first-line treatment Studies including patients who had received treatment for HCC (other than TACE) after diagnosis
Studies reporting a comparison of safety and efficacy between cTACE and DEB-TACE Studies comparing cTACE and DEB-TACE on aspects other than safety and efficacy