Addition of thermal ablation to systemic chemotherapy for the treatment of unresectable intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma: a propensity score matching analysis

Objectives To retrospectively compare the survival outcomes of thermal ablation plus chemotherapy to those of chemotherapy alone in patients with unresectable intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (ICC). Methods 189 patients with unresectable ICC who received thermal ablation plus chemotherapy or chemotherapy alone as the initial treatment were identified . To avoid potential bias, 1:1 matching between groups was performed through propensity score matching. Overall survival (OS) was the primary endpoint. Clinical and tumor factors related to OS were analyzed through univariate and multivariate analyses. Results Of the enrolled patients, 55 received ablation plus chemotherapy, and 134 received chemotherapy alone. The median OS was 16.267 months for patients treated with combined therapy and 6.067 months for patients treated with chemotherapy alone (p = 0.000). The benefit of ablation plus chemotherapy was also preserved in the matched cohort, with a median OS of 15.233 months in the combined treatment group and 7.967 months in the chemotherapy group (p = 0.009). Univariate and multivariate analyses indicated that the type of treatment was an independent factor of OS (p < 0.05). Conclusions The combination of thermal ablation and systemic chemotherapy provides an opportunity to improve the prognosis of patients with unresectable ICC.