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

Abstract

PurposeTo 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 MethodsThis 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. ResultsUnivariate 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. ConclusionsHigher ICG-R15 acted as a positive long-term prognostic factor in patients with HCC treated with TACE.