Prognostic factors for transarterial chemoembolization combined with sustained oxaliplatin-based hepatic arterial infusion chemotherapy of colorectal cancer liver metastasis

OBJECTIVE To investigate the prognostic factors in chemorefractory colorectal cancer liver metastasis (CRCLM) patients treated by transarterial chemoembolization (TACE) and sustained hepatic arterial infusion chemotherapy (HAIC). METHODS Between 2006 and 2015, 162 patients who underwent 763 TACE and HAIC in total were enrolled in this retrospective study, including 110 males and 52 females, with a median age of 60 (range, 26-83) years. Prognostic factors were assessed with Log-rank test, Cox univariate and multivariate analyses. RESULTS The median survival time (MST) and median progression-free survival (PFS) of the 162 patients from first TACE/HAIC were 15.6 months and 5.5 months respectively. Normal serum carbohydrate antigen 19-9 (CA19-9, <37 U/mL) (P<0.001) and carbohydrate antigen 72-4 (CA72-4, <6.7 U/mL) (P=0.026), combination with other local treatment (liver radiotherapy or liver radiofrequency ablation) (P=0.034) and response to TACE/HAIC (P<0.001) were significant factors related to survival after TACE/HAIC in univariate analysis. A multivariate analysis revealed that normal serum CA19-9 (P<0.001), response to TACE/HAIC (P<0.001) and combination with other local treatment (P=0.001) were independent factors among them. CONCLUSIONS Our findings indicate that serum CA19-9 <37 U/mL and response to TACE/HAIC are significant prognostic indicators for this combined treatment, and treated with other local treatment could reach a considerable survival benefit for CRCLM. This could be useful for making decisions regarding the treatment of CRCLM.