Baseline HBV loads do not affect PFS
During treatment, 35 patients (50.0%) had a progressive disease. The
median PFS time was 7.5 months. There was no significant difference in
PFS between patients with a baseline HBV DNA level ≤ 2000 IU/mL and
those with a DNA level > 2000 IU/mL (χ² = 0.075; P =
0.784) (Figure 2). To further identify whether baseline variables,
especially HBV loads, affect PFS, univariate and multivariate Cox
analyses were conducted. Univariate Cox regression analysis identified
the following factors that affected PFS: tumour lesion number
<3 (OR 0.428, 95% CI, 0.187–0.982; P = 0.045), AFP
level <400 ng/mL (OR 0.448, 95% CI, 0.227–0.883; P =
0.020), and TBIL (OR 1.036, 95% CI, 1.006–1.066; P = 0.018). We
then included these significant factors in a multivariate analysis, but
found no independent predictive factors that affected PFS (Figure 3).