Objective: To assess the necessity of prophylactic antibiotic therapy in HCC patients undergoing transcatheter arterial chemoembolization (TACE).
Study design: Descriptive study.
Place and duration of study: The First Affliated Hospital, College of Medicine, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China, from August 2016 to August 2017.
Methodology: Retrospective TACE-treated cases were analysed in this study. The basic characteristics of the patients,the days in hospital, the laboratory data and fever after the procedure were assessed and compared. A review of literature of published studies and our present study were further conducted to determine the necessity of prophylactic antibiotic therapy.
Results: In 159 cases, there were no significant difference in the leukocyte count (p=0.552), neutrophil count (p=0.573) and fever (p=0.31) with and without prophylactic antibiotic therapy groups. The hospital stay was significantly increased in the prophylactic antibiotic group (p<0.001). The fever of previous and the present results showed no significant difference (p=0.25) between the groups.
Conclusion: Prophylactic antibiotic therapy is not routinely necessary in the procedure of TACE for HCC patients.