Meta analysis: The clinical value of sodium alginate microspheres combined with transcatheter arterial chemoembolization in treating primary hepatocellular cancer

Objective: To evaluate the clinical value of sodium alginate microspheres (KMG) combined with transcatheter arterial chemoembolization (TACE) in treating patients with primary hepatocellular carcinoma. Methods: A comprehensive search into the Cochrane library, PubMed, CNKI, CMB and WanFang databases was conducted with the key words of sodium alginate microspheres、hepatocellular carcinoma、transcatheter arterial chemoembolization. Relative studies published in these sources were first screened by three researchers based on double-blind acceptance and rejection criteria. The accepted studies were then analyzed by RevManManger 5.3. Results: In the selected 6 studies, a total of 497 patients, 225 received KMG+TACE, and 272 underwent TACE only. The Meta analysis showed that KMG combined with TACE could shrink the tumor size better compared with TACE (OR=4.15, 95%CI:2.38-7.24, P 0.05). Conclusions: KMG combined with TACE could shrink tumor size and improve the 1 year survival rate better than TACE, however, it could not alleviate the postoperative complications better. So comparatively, KMG combined with TACE has some superior clinical value in treating primary hepatocellular carcinoma. Key words: Meta analysis; Sodium alginate microspheres; Transcatheter arterial chemoembolization; Hepatocellular carcinoma