Effect of COVID-19 Pandemic-Related Delays in Chemoembolization on the Survival of Patients with Hepatocellular Carcinoma

Table 3

Baseline characteristics of the study participants who underwent repeated TACE.

Factors	Prelockdown group (n = 87)	Lockdown group (n = 58)	value
Age, years, mean ± SD	63.9 ± 10.3	65.3 ± 8.8	0.406
Sex, male, n (%)	64 (73.6)	45 (77.6)
Liver disease etiology, n (%)			0.225
HBV	48 (55.2)	31 (53.4)
HCV	25 (28.7)	10 (17.2)
HBV + HCV	2 (2.3)	1 (1.7)
Alcohol	4 (4.6)	5 (8.6)
Others	8 (9.2)	11 (19)
Severity of liver disease, n (%)			0.079
Child–Pugh A	63 (72.4)	50 (86.2)
Child–Pugh B	24 (27.6)	8 (13.8)
BCLC stage, n (%)			0.610
A	10 (11.5)	10 (17.2)
B	65 (74.7)	41 (70.7)
C	12 (13.8)	7 (12.1)
AFP (ng/mL), n (%)			0.393
≤200	64 (73.6)	38 (65.5)
>200	23 (26.4)	20 (34.5)
ALT (U/L), median (IQR)	33.0 (21.5–45.0)	30.5 (25.0–41.0)	0.565
AST (U/L), median (IQR)	55.0 (35.5–76.5)	44.5 (33.0–71.8)	0.218
Total bilirubin (mg/dL), median (IQR)	0.8 (0.5–1.4)	0.9 (0.5–1.3)	0.548
Albumin (g/dL), mean ± SD	3.6 ± 0.6	3.4 ± 0.6	0.165
Platelet count (×10^3/mm^3), median (IQR)	112.5 (71.2–149.5)	96 (71.5–153.5)	0.584
Size of main tumor (cm), median (range)	3.2 (1.1–12.8)	3.0 (1.1–16.0)	0.266
Number of tumors, n (%)			0.793
1–3	46 (52.9)	34 (58.6)
4-5	17 (19.5)	10 (17.2)
>5	24 (27.6)	14 (24.1)
Vascular invasion, n (%)			0.781
Absent	53 (91.4)	77 (88.5)
Present	5 (8.6)	10 (11.5)
Previous TACE sessions, median (IQR)	2 (1–5)	2 (1–4)	0.756
Time interval (days), mean ± SD	63.5 ± 25.2	76.7 ± 32.9	0.007^∗
Hospitalization (days), median (IQR)	3 (3–3.5)	3 (3–3)	0.682

TACE, transarterial chemoembolization; HBV, hepatitis B virus; HCV, hepatitis C virus; BCLC, Barcelona Clinic Liver Cancer; AFP, alpha-fetoprotein; ALT, alanine transaminase; IQR, interquartile range; AST, aspartate transaminase; SD, standard deviation.