Development of a Risk Prediction Model for Immune-Targeted Therapy-Related Diarrhea in Patients With Hepatocellular Carcinoma Based on TCM Constitutional Types: A Prospective Cohort Study

Immune checkpoint inhibitors combined with anti-angiogenic targeted agents have become the first-line standard therapeutic regimen for advanced hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Nevertheless, the high incidence rate of therapy-related diarrhea severely impairs patients' quality of life and treatment adherence, and may even result in treatment discontinuation. Current studies mostly focus on symptomatic intervention after diarrhea onset, while few tools are available for upfront risk screening prior to treatment initiation. According to the theory of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) constitutional types, individuals with different constitutions exhibit discrepant disease susceptibility and drug responses. Based on a prospective cohort design, this study aims to explore the correlation between TCM constitutional types and immune-targeted therapy-related diarrhea in HCC patients, and further construct a risk prediction model integrated with both western medical and TCM indicators. This study is designed as a multicenter prospective observational cohort study. A total of 350 primary HCC patients receiving combined immunotherapy and targeted therapy at the Affiliated Hospital of Chengde Medical University from January 2027 to December 2028 will be enrolled into the model development cohort. Another 150 patients from Chengde Central Hospital and Chengde Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine between January 2029 and January 2030 will be recruited as the external validation cohort. Baseline data will be collected before treatment, including sociodemographic and general clinical information, tumor and treatment-related data, laboratory test results, TCM constitutional assessment, nutritional risk screening, physical function and psychological status evaluation. All participants will be followed up regularly for one year to record the occurrence of diarrhea. Samples in the development cohort will be randomly divided into a training set and an internal validation set at a