Table 5.
Characteristics of TACE treatment in the different calendar periods.
| P1 | P2 | P3 | P4 | P5 | P6 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| All patients | ||||||
| Patients with at least a TACE | 123/256 (48.0) | 195/370 (52.7) | 354/867 (40.8)a | 601/1323 (45.4) | 1078/2515 (42.9) | 656/1853 (35.4) c |
| Line of TACE treatment | ||||||
| 1st line | 117 (95.1) | 170 (87.2) a | 245 (69.2) d | 383 (63.7) d | 752 (69.7) d | 528 (80.5) d |
| 2nd line | 6 (4.9) | 17 (8.7) | 61 (17.2) c | 143 (23.8) d | 237 (22.0) d | 102 (15.5) c |
| ≥3rd line | 0 (0) | 8 (4.1) a | 48 (13.6) d | 75 (12.5) d | 89 (8.3) d | 26 (4.0) a |
| Rounds of TACE per patient | ||||||
| 1 | 123 (100.0) | 194 (99.9) | 325 (91.8) c | 431 (71.7) d | 631 (58.6) d | 446 (68.0) d |
| 2 | 0 (0) | 0 (0) | 9 (2.5) | 102 (17.0) d | 257 (23.8) d | 141 (21.5) d |
| ≥3 | 0 (0) | 1 (0.1) | 20 (5.7) b | 68 (11.3) d | 190 (17.6) d | 69 (10.5) d |
| Response to first TACE | ||||||
| CR + PR | 96 (78.1) | 164 (84.1) | 274 (77.4) | 475 (79.0) | 863 (80.1) | 529 (80.7) |
| SD + PD | 27 (21.9) | 31 (15.9) | 80 (22.6) | 126 (21.0) | 215 (19.9) | 127 (19.3) |
| TACE as main treatment | 117/123 (95.1) | 165/195 (84.6) b | 219/354 (61.9) d | 317/601 (52.7) d | 597/1078 (55.4) d | 424/656 (64.6) d |
| BCLC B patients | ||||||
| Patients with at least a TACE | 61/78 (78.2) | 82/101 (81.2) | 141/216 (65.3) a | 214/235 (91.1) b | 329/376 (87.5) a | 204/264 (77.3) |
| Line of TACE treatment | ||||||
| 1st line | 48 (78.7) | 66 (80.5) | 87 (61.7) a | 112 (52.3) c | 170 (51.7) d | 127 (62.3) a |
| 2nd line | 13 (21.3) | 16 (19.5) | 32 (22.7) | 70 (32.7) | 123 (37.4) a | 56 (27.4) |
| ≥3rd line | 0 | 0 | 22 (15.6) c | 32 (15.0) c | 36 (10.9) b | 21 (10.3) b |
| Rounds of TACE per patient | ||||||
| 1 | 61 (100.0) | 82 (100.0) | 134 (95.0) | 156 (72.9) d | 195 (59.3) d | 131 (64.2) d |
| 2 | 0 (0) | 0 (0) | 2 (1.4) | 32 (15.0) c | 75 (22.8) d | 51 (25.0) d |
| ≥3 | 0 (0) | 0 (0) | 5 (3.6) | 26 (12.1) b | 59 (17.9) d | 22 (10.8) b |
| Response to first TACE | ||||||
| CR + PR | 45 (73.8) | 65 (79.3) | 108 (76.6) | 163 (76.2) | 234 (71.1) | 157 (77.0) |
| SD + PD | 16 (26.2) | 17 (20.7) | 33 (23.4) | 51 (23.8) | 95 (29.9) | 47 (23.0) |
| TACE as main treatment | 48/61 (70.7) | 65/82 (79.3) | 81/141 (57.4) b | 94/214 (43.9) d | 140/329 (42.6) d | 103/204 (50.5) c |
All patients receiving at least a TACE, irrespective of the treatment sequence adopted, were considered.
The first cohort (P1, 1988–1993) is taken as reference in the comparison with other time periods.
Continuous variables are reported as median and interquartile range (IQR), while categorical variables as absolute and relative frequencies.
a
p < 0.05 and ≥0.01.
b
p < 0.01 and ≥0.001.
c
p < 0.001 and ≥0.0001.
d
p < 0.0001.
TACE, trans-arterial chemoembolization; CR, complete response; OR, partial response; SD, stable disease; PD, progressive disease; BCLC, Barcelona Clinic Liver Cancer.