Chemoembolization With or Without Antiviral Therapy for Unresectable HBV-related HCC With Low HBV DNA Replication

Although it is commonly accepted that antiviral therapy should be commenced before or during hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) treatment if the patients have high viral loads and elevated ALT or total bilirubin values with signs of cirrhosis, the dilemma exists when HBV DNA and liver function (such as ALT, AST, TBIL) remains low level. Whether antiviral therapy make sense or not in these patients with no signs of hepatitis or high viral replication remains unclear, especially for the relatively advanced stage HCC patients receiving TACE. Thus, the investigators carried out this prospective control study to compare the survivals for patients after TACE between with or without antiviral therapy.