Result and cost of hepatic chemoembolisation with drug eluting beads in 21 patients

PurposeThe aim of our study was to assess the results and cost of a treatment strategy involving transarterial chemoembolisation with drug eluting beads (DEB-TACE) in patients with unresectable non-metastatic hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).Patients and methodsThis study included all patients treated with DEB-TACE in our hospital between January 2009 and December 2010. All patients received DEB-TACE on demand and were evaluated after each session.ResultsTwenty-one patients received an average of 1.3 sessions. The median time to treatment discontinuation and median progression-free survival was 181 days and 295 days, respectively. Toxicity caused treatment discontinuation in three patients (14%). For the hospital, the average direct cost of treatment was €6,033 according to the analytical accounting system vs. €4,558 according to the official tariffs from the new French Diagnosis-Related Group prospective payment system (P = 0.002).ConclusionIn the treatment of HCC, on-demand DEB-TACE stabilises the disease in some patients but has not yet been thoroughly evaluated.