Nucleot(s)ide analogues for hepatitis B virus-related hepatocellular carcinoma after curative treatment: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

AIM: The benefit of nucleot(s)ide analogues (NA) for hepatitis B virus (HBV)-related hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) after curative treatment has been widely debated due to the relatively weak evidence. The objective of this systematic review was to evaluate the effect of NA on recurrence and survival after curative treatment of HBV-HCC. METHODS: A systematic electronic search was performed. All controlled trials comparing NA versus placebo or no treatment were considered for inclusion. Results were expressed as Hazard Ratio for recurrence and survival with 95% confidence intervals using RevMan 5.2. RESULTS: We included 13 trials with 6350 patients. There were significant improvements for recurrence-free survival (HR 0.66, 95% CI 0.54-0.80; p<0.0001) and overall survival (HR 0.56, 95% CI 0.43-0.73; p