Abstract: Objective The aim of this study was to explore assessment of therapeutic effectiveness by contrast-enhanced CT scan in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) after transcatheter arterial chemoembolization (TACE) therapy. Methods 80 patients with HCC were encountered in our hospital between May 2023 and May 2025, and all underwent TACE therapy for two times at one-month interval. All patients received contrast-enhanced CT scan to record CT value of lesions and enhancement index was calculated. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was drawn to evaluate predicting efficacy of CT parameters. Results Of 80 patients with HCC in our series, Objective remission (OR) was obtained in 46 cases(57.5%)and didn’t (NOR) obtain in 34 cases (42.5%) based on mRECIST criteria; after treatment, CT values of lesions at plain scan, contrast-enhanced scans at arterial phase, portal vein phase and delayed phase in OR group were (45.3±4.6)HU, (93.3±8.7)HU, (71.1±9.3)HU and (65.8±9.1)HU, all much greater than [(38.3±2.4)HU, (70.1±8.3)HU, (62.8±7.6)HU and (62.3±8.2)HU, respectively, P＜0.05] in NOR group; enhancement indexes at arterial phase, portal vein phase and delayed phase were(0.6±0.2), (0.9±0.1) and (0.9±0.2), all much greater than [(0.5±0.1), (0.8±0.2) and (0.8±0.1), respectively, P＜0.05] in NOR group; ROC analysis showed that the AUC was 0.839 (95%CI:0.658-0.874), with sensitivity of 82.5% and specificity of 83.9%, when CT value of cancerous lesions was combined with enhancement index in predicting good efficacy of TACE. Conclusion The quantitative parameters of contrast-enhanced CT scan could relatively correctly predict therapeutic effect of TACE in patients with HCC, which might guide clinicians make further interventional strategy.

Key words: Hepatocellular carcinoma, Transcatheter arterial chemoembolization, Contrast-enhanced CT scan, CT value, Enhancement index, Therapy