Predictive factors of severe abdominal pain during and after transarterial chemoembolization for hepatocellular carcinoma

ConclusionSevere abdominal pain was frequent during and after TACE revealing a clinically relevant and underestimated problem. A predictive model based on three readily available clinical variables suggests that young patients without alcoholic liver disease or cirrhosis could benefit from reinforced analgesia.Key Points• Severe abdominal pain occurs in 43% of TACE for HCC.• Younger age, absence of cirrhosis, and absence of alcoholic liver disease were identified as independent predictive factors of severe abdominal pain.• A simple combination of the three abovementioned features helped predict the occurrence of severe abdominal pain.
Source: European Radiology - Category: Radiology Source Type: research