Evidence map›Paper›PMID 39758864›Full record

ArticleCureus2025

Sultan's Score: A Novel Predictive Score to Predict Complete Response Following Drug-Eluting Bead Chemoembolization.

Sultan R Alharbi

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In one paragraph

Article in Cureus, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
2citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

2 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Article
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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

1 author.

Sultan R AlharbiRadiology and Medical Imaging, King Saud University, Riyadh, SAU.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundTranscatheter arterial chemoembolization (TACE) is a well-known standard treatment for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC); however, the effectiveness of this treatment can vary among patients.

objectivesThis study aimed to develop a novel imaging-based prediction score (Sultan's score) to predict complete response after treatment.

methodsFrom January 2015 to 2021, 41 patients with solitary HCC, admitted at King Saud University Medical City, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, were treated with drug-eluting TACE (DEBTACE). Clinical data, tumor details, treatment specifics, and outcomes were gathered retrospectively. Sultan's score incorporates five imaging-based elements, namely, well-defined tumor borders, presence of tumor capsule, tumor size, arterial hyper enhancement, and hypertrophic arterial feeder. The cut-off value of Sultan's score was determined by calculating the maximum Youden index using the receiver operating characteristic curve to accurately predict complete treatment response to DEBTACE.

resultsFollowing two DEBTACE sessions, 28 (68.3%) and 13 (31.7%) patients showed complete and partial responses, respectively. The mean ± standard deviation and median (interquartile range) of the Sultan's score in patients with a complete treatment response were 3.93 ± 0.72 and 4 (4-4), and the corresponding values in patients with a partial response were 2.77 (0.93) and 3 (2-3.5), respectively. A cut-off value of 3.5 for the Sultan's score had a sensitivity and specificity of 78.6% and 76.9%, respectively, in predicting a complete treatment response. The area under the curve was 0.827 (95% confidence interval: 0.688-0.966).

conclusionsWe developed a novel imaging-based scoring system (Sultan's score) for predicting complete response in patients with HCC following DEBTACE.

Indexed as

chemoembolizationcomplete responsedrug-eluting beadshepatocellular carcinomapartial responseprediction scoreprognosis

Identifiers

PMID39758864
PMCPMC11698380

What Socratic holds

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LicenceCC BY
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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.