Higher Indocyanine Green Retention Is Associated with Improved Prognosis in Patients with Hepatocellular Carcinoma Treated with Transcatheter Arterial Chemoembolization.

ABSTRACT

PURPOSE: To test indocyanine green retention rate at 15 minutes (ICG-R15) as a prognostic biomarker in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) treated with transcatheter arterial chemoembolization (TACE) therapy. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This retrospective cohort study was performed on the data of 278 consecutive patients with HCC treated with TACE after ICG-R15 testing at a single university hospital. Cox proportional hazard model analysis was performed to identify independent prognostic factors. After adjusting for age, sex, stage of HCC, albumin-bilirubin score, etiologies, and baseline year by propensity score matching, the prognostic impact of higher ICG-R15 was evaluated using the Kaplan-Meier curve. RESULTS: Univariate and multivariate analyses identified higher ICG-R15 as a positive prognostic factor for overall survival. Propensity score matching generated two 77-patient cohorts ICG-R15 <20% group and ICG-R15 >20% group. The overall survival of the ICG-R15 >20% group was significantly better than that of the ICG-R15 <20% group. CONCLUSIONS: Higher ICG-R15 acted as a positive long-term prognostic factor in patients with HCC treated with TACE.