Abstract: Objective To study the clinical effect of cold cycle microwave ablation combined with transcatheter arterial chemoembolization (TACE) in the treatment of primary hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Methods There were 90 HCC patients included in the study, divided into the observation group (n = 45) and the control group (n = 45) by the random number table. The control group received TACE, and the observation group received TACE and cold cycle microwave ablation. Clinical efficacy, time of hospitalization, cost of hospitalization, pretreatment and posttreatment Short Form-36 (SF-36) score, and the occurrence of adverse reactions after treatment was compared between the 2 groups. Results The response rate and disease control rate of the observation group were 77.78% and 86.67, respectively, which were significantly higher than those of the control group (62.50% and 68.89%, P<0.05). The time and cost of hospitalization in the observation group were significantly more than those in the control group (P<0.05). The posttreatment SF-36 score in the observation group was significantly higher than pretreatment score and posttreatment score in the control group (P<0.05). There was no significant difference in the total incidence of adverse reactions between the 2 groups (P>0.05). Conclusion The cold cycle microwave ablation combined with TACE has significant efficacy in the treatment of HCC, which can effectively improve patients’ quality of life.

Key words: Primary liver cancer, Cold cycle microwave ablation, Transcatheter arterial chemoembolization, Quality of life