Abstract:

Objective To investigate the application value of contrast-enhanced ultrasound combined with serum CXC chemokine ligand 8 （CXCL8） and CXC chemokine receptor 2 （CXCR2） levels detection in the efficacy evaluation of patients with primary liver cancer after transcatheter arterial chemoembolization （TACE）. Methods A total of 80 patients with primary liver cancer who were diagnosed and treated in Huanggang Central Hospital of Hubei Province from June 2019 to January 2022 were selected as the research objects. The therapeutic efficacy was evaluated 2 months after TACE treatment. According to the pathological diagnosis， the patients were divided into complete inactivation group （n=30） and residual lesion group （n=50）. The levels of serum CXCL8 and CXCR2 were measured by enzyme linked immunosorbent assay （ELISA） double antibody sandwich method， and contrast-enhanced ultrasonography was performed on the patients. Receiver operating characteristic （ROC） curve was applied to analyze the value of serum CXCL8 and CXCR2 in evaluating the efficacy of TACE in patients with primary liver cancer. Kappa test was applied to test the consistency of contrast-enhanced ultrasound and contrast-enhanced ultrasound combined with serum CXCL8 and CXCR2 in evaluating the efficacy of TACE in patients with primary liver cancer and the results of pathological diagnosis. Results Compared with the complete inactivation group， the levels of serum CXCL8 [（7.12±1.68） ng/ml vs. （5.07±1.25） ng/ml] and CXCR2 [（3.62±0.79） ng/ml vs. （2.43±0.67） ng/ml] in the residual lesion group were obviously higher （t=5.79， P<0.001； t=6.89， P<0.001）. The areas under the curve of CXCL8 and CXCR2 in evaluating the efficacy of TACE in patients with primary liver cancer were 0.827 and 0.801 respectively， the specificities were 73.3% and 76.7%， and the sensitivities were 70.0% and 72.0% respectively. The concordance between contrast-enhanced ultrasound and pathological diagnosis was moderate， and the Kappa value was 0.49 （P<0.001）. The concordance between contrast-enhanced ultrasound combined with serum CXCL8 and CXCR2 and pathological diagnosis was high， and the Kappa value was 0.62 （P<0.001）. The sensitivity of contrast-enhanced ultrasound combined with serum CXCL8 and CXCR2 in evaluating the efficacy of TACE in patients with primary liver cancer was 90.0%， which was higher than the sensitivity of contrast-enhanced ultrasound （72.0%， χ²=5.26， P=0.022）， CXCL8 （70.0%， χ²=6.25， P=0.012） and CXCR2 （72.0%， χ²=5.26， P=0.022）. Conclusion Contrast-enhanced ultrasound can detect residual lesions after TACE in patients with primary liver cancer to a certain extent， and its combination with serum CXCL8 and CXCR2 can effectively improve the evaluation efficiency of the efficacy of TACE treatment in patients with primary liver cancer.

Key words: Liver neoplasms, Ultrasonography, Contrast media, Transcatheter arterial chemoembolization