Boas FE, Brown KT, Ziv E, et al. - Through a retrospective review that involved 304 patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) who were treated with transarterial embolization (TAE), researchers evaluated the mechanism by which aspirin therapy improves survival when combined with transarterial chemoembolization or TAE for HCC. No variation in initial response rate, the median time to progression, initial site of progression, or fraction of patients dying with disease progression was noted in patients taking aspirin and those not taking aspirin at the time of initial TAE for HCC. No variation prior to the embolization in mean bilirubin level for patients taking vs not taking aspirin was observed. The bilirubin level was significantly lower 1 day, 1 month, and 1 year following embolization in patients taking aspirin. For patients taking aspirin, the median OS period following the initial embolization was longer. Thus, for HCC, aspirin use was concluded to be correlated with improved liver function test results and survival following TAE. However, it is not related to variations in response or time to progression.