Comparison of Mean Survival Time Between Yttrium-90 & Chemoembolization

Objectives The aim of this retrospective study was to compare the mean survival times of subjects with primary hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) when treated with Yttrium-90 microspheres versus chemoembolization.

Methods Twenty-five deceased male chemoembolization subjects with primary HCC were selected, with ages ranging from 53 to 76 years old. The treatment range for the subjects was one to ten treatments with eight subjects also receiving radiofrequency ablation (RFA) treatments. Fifteen-deceased male Y-90 microsphere therapy subjects with primary HCC were selected, with ages ranging from 55 to 83 years old. The treatment range was one to two treatments with two receiving RFA treatments and one receiving a bland embolization treatment. The two groups had similar Child-Pugh liver disease classifications, and similar anatomic distributions of tumor. Mean survival time after completion of therapy was analyzed using a two-sample t-test assuming unequal variance. In addition, regression analysis was performed to determine if the number of treatments in each group correlated with mean survival time.

Results The mean survival time was 19.36 months (SD 12.79) for chemoembolization and 5.13 months (SD 3.42) for the Y-90 microsphere therapy. The p-value was 1.2404E-05. The R squared value, comparing the number of treatments and months lived after therapy, was 0.2522 for chemoembolization and 0.3338 for Y-90 microsphere therapy.

Conclusions Chemoembolization has a higher mean survival time than Y-90 microsphere therapy. There was little correlation between number of treatments and mean survival time.