Objectives: This work aimed to measure serum vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) levels before and after Conventional transarterial chemoembolization (cTACE) versus drug-eluting beads (DEB)-TACE and evaluate its efficacy in predicting response to therapy and tumor recurrence.
Methods: 114 patients with unresectable hepatocellular carcinoma complicating hepatitis C virus-related cirrhosis were included. They underwent cTACE (58) or DEB-TACE (56). VEGF serum levels were measured before and on days 1 and 30 after TACE. Patients with complete response (CR) after TACE were followed-up for one year. Statistical analysis was done.
Results: VEGF level was higher than baseline after cTACE (P < 0.001), and DEB-TACE (P = 0.004). It was also significantly higher in patients with progressive disease (P < 0.001). VEGF level at cut off values of 97.3, 149.8, and 104.1 pg/ml could discriminate disease progression from treatment success with area under ROC curves of 0.806, 0.775, and 0.771, respectively. The sensitivity was 88.9%, 88.9%, and 77.8% and specificity was 62.5%, 64.6 and 66.7%, respectively. However, no relation to tumor recurrence in CR group could be detected after one year.
Conclusion: VEGF serum levels may predict response to therapy in patients treated by DEB-TACE or cTACE but it has no relation to tumor recurrence.
Keywords: DEB-TACE; HCC; VEGF; cTACE; prognosis; unresectable HCC.