Table 2. Baseline characteristics of comparative studies assessing effect of combination therapy for unresectable HCC.

Authors (year)	Study Design	Country	Pts.	CPS	BCLC	ECOG	Hepatitis	Treatment characteristics	NO. of TACE
Martin et al. 2010† [21]	Prospective	several countries	150	ST: B = 31% DT:B = 39%	NA	NA	NA	ST(n = 30) versus DT (n = 120)	ST: 2.0; DT: 1.0 (median)
Kudo et al. 2011 [22]	Phase III, Randomized	Japan and South Korea	299	A = 100%	NA	0 = 87% 1 = 13%	HBV = 20% HCV = 60%	Sorafenib was given 1–3 months after TACE till progression	1.0–2.0
Sansonno et al. 2012 [24]	phase II, prospective, randomized	Italy	40	A = 100%	B = 100%	0 = 86% 1 = 24%	HCV = 100%	Sorafenib started 30 days after TACE till progression or unacceptable toxicity	NA
Lencioni et al. 2012† [23]	phase II, prospective, randomized	several countries	307	A = 100%	B = 100%	0 = 100%	NA	Continuous sorafenib 3–7 d before chemoembolization	NA
Bai et al. 2013 [25]	Prospective	China	82	A = 77% B = 23%	B = 23% C = 77%	0 = 36.5%, 1 = 46.5%, 2 = 14.6%, 3 = 1.2%, 4 = 1.2%	HBV = 87% HCV = 5%	Continuous sorafenib (400 mg orally bid), initiated within 14 days after TACE	NA
Muhammad et al. 2013† [26]	Retrospective	USA	43	ST:A = 85%DT:A = 77%	A = 46%; B = 15%; C = 38%	NA	ST:HCV = 69% DT:HCV = 93%	Sorafenib started with 200 mg bid and then increased to 400 mg in the majority of patients	1.9 (mean)
Huang et al. 2013 [27]	Prospective	China	155	NA	NA	NA	NA	Sorafenib started within 2 weeks of the first cycle of TACE	NA

Note:

^† †: TACE was performed using the drug-eluting beads (DEB) in the study. Other studies were conventional TACE.

Abbreviations: BCLC, The Barcelona Clinic Liver Cancer; CPS, Child-Pugh classification; Pts., patients; ST: sorafenib+TACE;DT: DEB-TACE; ECOG, Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group; HBV, hepatitis B virus; HCV, hepatitis C virus; HCC, Hepatocellular carcinoma; NA: not available; TACE, transarterial chemoembolization.