[A systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trails : adjuvant interferon therapy for hepatocellular carcinoma].

Objective: To evaluate the efficacy and safety of adjuvant interferon (IFN) therapy for viral hepatitis related hepatocellular carcinoma(HCC) after the treatment of resection, ablation or TACE.
Methods: PUBMED, EMBASE, Cochrane Library, CNKI, CBM, Wan fang Data were searched, plus some manual search and searching on the internet for grey literature. The studies that according to the standards were included, then Meta-analysis were done.
Results: Eight studies (n=857, 442 treated with IFN) were eligible for this study, pooled data showed benefit of IFN for the prevention of HCC recurrence, 1-year [RR=0.71, 95% CI (0.51, 0.99)], 3-year [RR=0.86, 95% CI (0.76-0.98)], 4-year [RR=0.79, 95% CI (0.68-0.91)]. IFN showed benefit for improving 1-year and 2-year survival, 1-year [RR=1.09, 95% CI (1.01-1.18)], 2-year [RR=1.25, 95% CI (1.04-1.50)]. The difference on 2-year, 5-year recurrence rate are without statistical significance, the same to 3-year, 4-year, 5-year survival rate.
Conclusion: IFN therapy after the treatment of resection, ablation or TACE can probably reduce HCC recurrence rate and improve survival with acceptable toxicities.