Platelet-to-lymphocyte ratio predicts therapy outcomes of transarterial chemoembolization plus apatinib in the treatment of advanced hepatocellular carcinoma

Platelet-to-lymphocyte ratio predicts therapy outcomes of transarterial chemoembolization plus apatinib in the treatment of advanced hepatocellular carcinoma: To evaluate the predictive value of preoperative biochemical marker [platelet-to-lymphocyte ratio (PLR)] in patients with advanced hepatocellular cancer receiving transarterial chemoembolization (TACE) plus targeted molecular therapy (apatinib) treatment. Clinical records of 134 patients receiving the treatment of TACE + apatinib (TACE-A) and the treatment of TACE alone were compared in a single-center study. Time to progression (TTP) and overall survival (OS) were compared between TACE-A and TACE alone groups in patients with PLR > 150 and PLR ≤ 150, respectively. The area under the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was used to determine the prediction power of PLR. The median TTP and OS in the TACE-A group were significantly longer than those in the TACE alone group (P  150) group (P  150) and TACE alone (P = 0.232) groups in OS, but the median TTP in the TACE-A (PLR > 150) group was longer than that in the TACE alone group (P = 0.001). ROC analysis showed that the area under the curve was 0.643 and 0.623 for 6- and 12-month survival, respectively. PLR might predict the results of patients with advanced hepatocellular carcinoma received TACE-A treatment.

* Dr. Lei Chen, Dr. Zunqian Ke and Dr. Fu Xiong contributed equally to the writing of this article.

Received 13 July 2019 Revised form accepted 7 January 2020

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Correspondence to Chuansheng Zheng, MD, PhD, Department of Radiology, Union Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430022, China, Tel/fax: +13329702158; e-mail: hqzcsxh@sina.com

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