Purpose: To explore the influence of transcatheter hepatic arterial chemoembolization (TACE) combined with microwave ablation on T lymphocyte subsets and prognosis in patients with liver cancer and analyze the safety.
Methods: The clinical data of 160 patients were retrospectively analyzed. The patients in the control group underwent TACE, while those in the observation group were treated with microwave ablation in addition to TACE. Then, the changes in the levels of T lymphocyte subsets, liver function indexes and alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) before and after treatment were compared between the two groups.
Results: After treatment, the levels of cluster of differentiation 3+ (CD3+), CD4+ and CD4+/CD8+ of patients were significantly increased in both groups, while the levels of CD8+ and serum alanine aminotransferase (ALT), aspartate aminotransferase (AST) and AFP were overtly lowered, while the observation group had more obvious changes in the above-mentioned levels (p<0.05). The response rate and prognostic survival rate were evidently higher in the observation group than in the control group (p<0.05). The complications after treatment showed no significant difference between the two groups (p>0.05). Child-Pugh, tumor diameter and number of lesions were independent risk factors for the prognosis of survival of liver cancer patients undergoing TACE combined with microwave ablation (p<0.05).
Conclusions: TACE combined with microwave ablation has relatively high efficacy and safety in the treatment of liver cancer, which can improve liver function, immune function and prognostic survival.