The Effect of Alcohol Consumption in Unresectable Hepatocellular Carcinoma with Transarterial Chemoembolization

Bo Sun; Lijie Zhang; Dongqiao Xiang; Qing Li; Yanqiao Ren; Yanyan Cao; Tao Sun; Weihua Zhang; Linxia Wu; Licheng Zhu; Lei Chen; Huangxuan Zhao; Chuansheng Zheng

doi:10.1155/2022/7062105

The Effect of Alcohol Consumption in Unresectable Hepatocellular Carcinoma with Transarterial Chemoembolization

J Oncol. 2022 Dec 30:2022:7062105. doi: 10.1155/2022/7062105. eCollection 2022.

Authors

Bo Sun^{1

2

3}, Lijie Zhang^{1

2

3

4}, Dongqiao Xiang^{1

2

3}, Qing Li^{1

2

3}, Yanqiao Ren^{1

2

3}, Yanyan Cao^{1

2

3}, Tao Sun^{1

2

3}, Weihua Zhang^{1

2

3}, Linxia Wu^{1

2

3}, Licheng Zhu^{1

2

3}, Lei Chen^{1

2

3}, Huangxuan Zhao^{1

2

3}, Chuansheng Zheng^{1

2

3}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Radiology, Union Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430022, China.
² Hubei Province Key Laboratory of Molecular Imaging, Wuhan 430022, China.
³ Department of Interventional Radiology, Union Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430022, China.
⁴ Department of Interventional Radiology, The Fifth Medical Center of Chinese, PLA General Hospital, Beijing 100039, China.

Abstract

Background: Alcohol consumption can increase the risk of developing hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). However, whether continuous alcohol consumption can influence outcomes in patients with HCC who undergo transarterial chemoembolization (TACE) remains unclear. This study aimed to explore the effect of alcohol consumption in patients with unresectable HCC who underwent TACE.

Methods: The data used in the study were obtained from two centers and were retrospectively reviewed between January, 2014, and December, 2021. 254 patients with TACE were included in this study. Among them, 101 patients were continuous alcohol consumers and 153 patients had alcohol abstinence. Propensity score matching (PSM) and competing risk analysis were used to reduce the selection bias.

Results: The median overall survival (mOS) and median progression-free survival (mPFS) in the alcohol consumers' group were longer than those in the alcohol abstinence group, before and after PSM. Multivariate regression analysis showed that alcohol consumption increased all-cause mortality risk (HR: 1.486, 95% CI: 1.074-2.055; P=0.016) and tumor progression risk (HR: 1.434, 95% CI: 1.091-1.886; P=0.01) more than that with alcohol abstinence. In the competing risk analysis, after excluding deaths caused by other reasons, alcohol consumption increased cancer-specific mortality risk more than alcohol abstinence did before and after PSM. Adverse event analysis showed that alcohol consumption increased the risk of all grades of nausea and vomiting and grade III or IV nausea more than alcohol abstinence did after patients underwent TACE.

Conclusion: Alcohol consumption may lead to a poor prognosis and increase adverse events in patients receiving TACE compared to those with alcohol abstinence.