Table 2.

Definition of TACE failure/refractoriness by the Japanese Society of Hepatology.

Item	Definition
Intrahepatic lesion	i. Two or more consecutive insufficient responses of the treated tumor (viable lesion > 50%) even after changing the chemotherapeutic agents and/or reanalysis of the feeding artery. The response evaluation is based on CT or MRI at 1–3 months after adequately performed selective TACE.
	ii. Two or more consecutive increases of tumor number even after having changed the chemotherapeutic agents and/ or reanalysis of the feeding artery. The response evaluation is based on CT or MRI at 1–3 months after adequately performed selective TACE.
Tumor markers	Continuous elevation of tumor markers after TACE even though transient decrease is observed.
Vascular invasion	Appearance of vascular invasion
Metastasis	Appearance of extrahepatic spread

TACE, transarterial chemoembolization; CT, computed tomography; MRI, magnetic resonance imaging.