A Predictive Model for Postembolization Syndrome after Transarterial Hepatic Chemoembolization of Hepatocellular Carcinoma.

Purpose To develop and validate a predictive model for postembolization syndrome (PES) following transarterial hepatic chemoembolization (TACE) for hepatocellular carcinoma. Materials and Methods In this single-center, retrospective study, 370 patients underwent 513 TACE procedures between October 2014 and September 2016. Seventy percent of the patients were randomly assigned to a training data set and the remaining 30% were assigned to a testing data set. Variables included demographic, laboratory, clinical, and procedural details. PES was defined as pain and/or nausea beyond 6 hours after TACE that required intravenous medication for symptom control. The predictive model was developed by using conditional inference trees and Lasso regression. Results Demographics, laboratory data, performance, tumor characteristics, and procedural details were statistically similar for the training and testing data sets. Overall, 83 of 370 patients (22.4%) after 107 of 513 TACE procedures (20.8%) met the predefined criteria. Factors identified at univariable analysis included large tumor burden (P = .004), drug-eluting embolic TACE (P = .03), doxorubicin dose (P = .003), history of PES (P < .001) and chronic pain (P < .001), of which history of PES, tumor burden, and drug-eluting embolic TACE were identified as the strongest predictors by the multivariable analysis and were used to develop the predictive model. When applied to the testing data set, the model demonstrated an area under the curve of 0.62, sensitivity of 79% (22 of 28), specificity of 44.2% (53 of 120), and a negative predictive value of 90% (53 of 59). Conclusion The model identified history of postembolization syndrome, tumor burden, and drug-eluting embolic chemoembolization as predictors of protracted recovery because of postembolization syndrome. © RSNA, 2018.

Assessing the Risk of Hemorrhagic Complication following Transjugular Liver Biopsy in Bone Marrow Transplantation Recipients.

PURPOSE: To determine if recipients of bone marrow transplants (BMTs) are at increased risk of hemorrhagic complications following transjugular liver biopsy (TJLB). MATERIALS AND METHODS: TJLBs in BMT and non-BMT patients between January 2007 and July 2014 were reviewed. Patient demographic and pre- and postprocedural laboratory data were reviewed. Mean platelet count and International Normalized Ratio were 174,300 × 10(3)/µL ± 107.3 (standard deviation) and 1.2 ± 0.4, respectively, for BMT recipients, compared with 88,100 × 10(3)/µL ± 70.9 and 1.2 ± 0.5, respectively, for non-BMT. Patients in whom hemoglobin level decreased by > 1 g/dL and/or required transfusion within 15 days of TJLB were reviewed to determine the presence of a biopsy-related hemorrhagic complication. RESULTS: A total of 1,600 TJLBs in 1,120 patients were analyzed. Of these, 183 TJLBs in 159 BMT recipients and 1,417 TJLBs in 961 patients non-BMT patients were performed. Thirteen TJLBs were complicated by hemorrhage: five in BMT (2.9%) and eight in the non-BMT cohorts (0.6%; P < .01). Preprocedural platelet counts were within normal range (57-268 × 10(3)/µL) in all but one patient (8 × 10(3)/µL). BMT recipients had an odds ratio of 4.9 (95% confidence interval, 1.25-17.3) for post-TJLB bleeding/hemorrhage compared with those without BMTs (P < .01). CONCLUSIONS: TJLB continues to be a safe procedure in the vast majority of patients. However, hemorrhagic complications occurred at a rate of 2.9% in BMT recipients, compared with 0.6% in patients without BMTs, and therefore caution should be exercised when performing TJLB in this group.