TABLE 1.

General information of the included studies

Author (reference), year	Country	Included populations	Transarterial techniques	Antibiotic regimen	Follow-up	Primary end points
Castells et al (16), 1995	Spain	Patients with HCC, confirmed by tumour biopsy and/or elevated AFP, and radiological findings	TAE, with embolizing agents of gelatin cube (1 mm × 1 mm) alone or gelatin and steel coil. The use of lipiodol was not described	Study group (n=37): IV cefotaxime 2 g/6 h + metronidazole 500 mg/8 h before TAE and for at least 48 h. Control group (n=38): no antibiotic treatment	1 month after discharge	Infectious complications
Wang et al (19), 2005	China	Patients with primary liver cancer	Only stated as TACE, information on the procedure was not provided	Study group (n=29): IV cefazolin 2 g before TACE for 0.5 h. Control group (n=31): no antibiotic treatment	2 months after TACE	Postprocedure infection
Plentz et al (17), 2005	Germany	Patients who had previously not received any treatment for nonresectable HCC. The diagnosis of HCC was based on elevated AFP level and/or fine-needle liver biopsy	Only stated as TACE, the use of anticancer drugs, embolizing agents and lipiodol were not described	Study group (n=15): IV ciprofloxacin 200 mg + metronidazole 500 mg on the morning of TACE. IV cephalosporin (not specified) twice a day + metronidazole 500 mg three times a day for the following 2 days. Seven days of IV cephalosporin + metronidazole 500 mg, or oral ciprofloxacin 250 mg + metronidazole 500 mg. Control group (n=15): no antibiotic treatment.	5 weeks after discharge	Adverse effects
Shelgikar et al (18), 2009	USA	Patients with histological or serological evidence of HCC	TAE, TACE, or Yttrium-90. The embolizing agent was polyvinyl alcohol particles and a cisplatin-based regimen mixed with ethiodol was used for chemoembolization	Study group (n=31): one dose of cefazolin and metronidazole were given before the transarterial procedure (8 patients), or pre- and postprocedure (23 patients). Control group (n=28): no antibiotic treatment	Median 28 months	Infectious complications

AFP Alpha-fetoprotein; HCC Hepatocellular carcinoma; IV Intravenous; TACE Transarterial chemoembolization; TAE Transarterial embolization