Ying-Chun ShenCHIUN HSUChen L.-T.Cheng C.-C.Hu F.-C.ANN-LII CHENG2021-03-092021-03-0920100168-8278https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-77952422635&doi=10.1016%2fj.jhep.2009.12.041&partnerID=40&md5=37edf2132d8a022251855c1e811b0901https://scholars.lib.ntu.edu.tw/handle/123456789/551201Background & Aims: Adjuvant anti-viral therapy after curative therapy for HCC has been studied extensively but the true clinical benefit and the predictors of efficacy remain unclear. Methods: MEDLINE, PubMed, and the Cochrane library were searched until December 2008, plus the meeting abstracts of the American Association for the Study of Liver Disease 2005-2008. Randomized trials and cohort studies were included if the studies (1) enrolled HCC patients who had underlying chronic viral hepatitis B or C and had undergone curative surgery or ablation therapy; (2) consisted of one or more treatment arms with interferon-based therapy and a control arm of no anti-viral therapy; and (3) included recurrence-free survival of HCC as an endpoint. Meta-analysis and meta-regression were done according to the Cochrane guidelines. Results: Thirteen studies (9 randomized trials and 4 cohort studies, totally 1180 patients) were eligible for meta-analysis. Surgery and ablation therapy were used in 9 and 8 studies, respectively. All studies used conventional interferon (natural or recombinant) as anti-viral therapy. Overall, interferon improved the 1-year, 2-year, and 3-year recurrence-free survival by 7.8% (95% CI 3.7-11.8%), 35.4% (95% CI 30.7-40.0%), and 14.0% (95% CI 8.6-19.4%), respectively (all p <0.01). Lower percentage of patients with multiple tumors and use of ablation therapy were independent predictors for better treatment efficacy. Conclusion: The quantitative estimation of treatment efficacy and the identification of predictive factors in this study will help design future clinical trials of adjuvant therapy for HCC. ? 2010 European Association for the Study of the Liver.[SDGs]SDG3interferon; recombinant interferon; ablation therapy; adjuvant therapy; antiviral therapy; article; cancer adjuvant therapy; cancer recurrence; cancer surgery; clinical trial; controlled clinical trial; disease free survival; hepatitis B; hepatitis C; human; liver cell carcinoma; meta analysis; multiple cancer; priority journal; randomized controlled trial; systematic review; Antiviral Agents; Carcinoma, Hepatocellular; Hepatitis B, Chronic; Hepatitis C, Chronic; Humans; Interferons; Liver Neoplasms; Postoperative Complications; Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic; Recurrence; Regression Analysisjournal article10.1016/j.jhep.2009.12.041203950092-s2.0-77952422635