A longitudinal study on symptom distress and management of transhepatic arterial interventional chemotherapy combined with targeted therapy and immunotherapy based on patient self-reported outcomes

Abstract Objective To explore the dynamic changes of self-reported symptoms in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma treated with interventional immunotherapy and targeted therapy at different time points after treatment, and to construct a management and early warning system based on patients’ self-reported outcomes for clinical symptom management, so as to provide the basis for correct assessment of symptoms and scientific intervention in such patients. Methods The convenience sampling method was used to select 130 patients who received interventional combined immunotherapy for liver cancer and were diagnosed and treated in the liver surgery department of a tertiary hospital in Guangdong Province from September 2023 to March 2024 for investigation. A longitudinal study was conducted at the first week (W1), the second week (W2) and the third week (W3) after interventional therapy using the general information questionnaire and the patient self-report questionnaire. Results One hundred fifty questionnaires were collected in this study, and 130 were valid. The effective recovery rate was 86.7%. Among the 16 patient-reported symptoms, pain (73.8%), fatigue (67.7%), and insomnia (53.1%) ranked the top three in the first week of self-reported symptoms; The top three in the second week were pain (60%), fatigue (56.9%), insomnia (50.8%), and the top three in the third week were fatigue (49.2%), pain (48.5%), insomnia (44.6%). The incidence and severity of self-reported symptoms decreased with time. Conclusion Medical staff should evaluate and intervene the stable symptoms reported by the patients as early as possible, establish the early warning and intervention management plan of the symptoms, and incorporate the intervention of the symptoms reported by the patients into the daily nursing work, so as to improve the experience of interventional immunotherapy and targeted therapy and improve the quality of life of the patients with hepatocellular carcinoma.