Background: The purpose of this study is to describe a single institutions experience using Oncozene (OZ) microspheres for transarterial chemoembolization (OZ-TACE) of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), and to compare tolerability, safety, short-term radiographic tumor response, progression-free survival (PFS), and overall survival (OS) of these procedures to TACE (LC-TACE) performed with LC beads (LC). Methods: A retrospective, matched cohort study of patients undergoing DEB-TACE (drug-eluting bead transarterial chemoembolization) with OZ or LC was performed. The cohort comprised 23 patients undergoing 29 TACE with 75 or 100 μm OZ and 24 patients undergoing 29 TACE with 100-300 μm LC. Outcome measures were changes in liver function tests, complications, treatment tolerability, short-term radiographic tumor response according to modified RECIST criteria for HCC, PFS, and 1-year OS. The Mann-Whitney U test, Fisher exact test, and log rank test were used to compare the groups. Results: The BCLC or Child-Pugh scores were similar between the OZ and LC group. However, the two groups differed with respect to the etiology of background cirrhosis (p = 0.02). All other initial demographic and tumor characteristics were similar between the two groups. OZ-TACE used less doxorubicin per treatment compared to LC-TACE (median 50 vs. 75 mg; p = 0.0005). Rates of pain, nausea, and postembolization syndrome were similar, irrespective of the embolic agent used. OZ-TACE resulted in an overall complication rate comparable to LC-TACE (20.7% vs. 10.3%; p = 0.47). LC-TACE resulted in a higher percent increase in total bilirubin on post-procedure day 1 (median 18.8 vs. 0%; p = 0.05), but this difference resolved at 1 month. Both OZ-TACE and LC-TACE resulted in similar complete (31% vs. 24%) and objective (66% vs. 79%) target lesion response rates on 1-month post-TACE imaging. Both OZ-TACE and LC-TACE had similar median progression-free survival (283 vs. 209 days; p = 0.14) and 1-year overall survival rates (85% vs. 76%; p = 0.30). Conclusion: With a significantly reduced dose of doxorubicin, TACE performed with Oncozene microspheres in a heterogeneous patient population is well-tolerated, safe, and produces a similar radiological response and survival rate when compared to LC Bead TACE.

Introduction

The purpose of this study was to investigate the rates of complications and diagnostic yield of transjugular liver biopsy (TJLB) in deceased donor liver transplant (DDLT) recipients.

Methods

From January 2009 to December 2019, 1,055 TJLBs were performed in 603 adult DDLT recipients with a mean age of 54 (±12 years). Data were retrospectively reviewed to determine the diagnostic efficacy and incidence of major and minor complications in the 3-day and 1-month period after TJLB. In addition, data were stratified according to platelet count and international normalized ratio to determine the safety of TJLB in patients with varying degrees of coagulopathy.

Results

TJLB yielded diagnostic rate of 98.1% (1,035/1,055), with an overall complication rate of 8.3% (88/1,055). Major complications accounted for 0.85% (9/1,055), and minor complications occurred in 7.48% (79/1,055). When patients were stratified by platelet count (0-50, 51-100, 101-200, 201-300, and >300 × 103 platelets/μL), no significant difference was noted in complication rates (9.5%, 8.6%, 7.6%, 8.5%, and 10.7%, respectively). When grouped by international normalized ratio (0-1, 1.1-2.0, 2.1-3.0, and >3.0), there was no statistical difference in complication rates (8.3%, 8.5%, 7.7%, and 0%, respectively).

Discussion

TJLB is a safe, adequate, and effective method to investigate hepatic disorders in DDLT recipients with severe coagulopathy.