Introduction:Most hepatocellular carcinomas(HCC) develop in a background of underlying liver disease including chronic hepatitis B.However,the effect of antiviral therapy on the long-term outcome of patients with hepatitis B virus(HBV)-related HCC treated with chemoembolization is unclear.This study aimed to evaluate the survival benefits of anti-HBV therapy after chemoembolization for patients with HBV-related HCC.Methods:A total of 224 HCC patients who successfully underwent chemoembolization were identified,and their survival and other relevant clinical data were reviewed.Kaplan-Meier and Cox regression analyses were performed to validate possible effects of antiviral treatment on overall survival(OS).Results:The median survival time(MST) was 15.9(95%confidence interval[CI],9.5-27.7) months in the antiviral group and 9.6(95%CI,7.8-13.7) months in the non-antiviral group(log-rank test,P = 0.044).Cox multivariate analysis revealed that antiviral treatment was a prognostic factor for OS(P = 0.008).Additionally,a further analysis was based on the stratification of the TNM tumor stages.In the subgroup of early stages,MST was significantly longer in the antiviral-treatment group than in the non-antiviral group(61.8 months[95%CI,34.8 months to beyond the follow-up period]versus 26.2[95%CI,14.5-37.7]months,P= 0.012).Multivariate analysis identified antiviral treatment as a prognostic factor for OS in the early-stage subgroup(P = 0.006).However,in the subgroup of advanced stages,MST of the antiviral-treated group was comparable to that of the non-antiviral group(8.4[95%CI,5.2-13.5]months versus 7.4[95%CI,5.9-9.3]months,P = 0.219).Multivariate analysis did not indicate that antiviral treatment was a significant prognostic factor in this subgroup.Conclusion:Antiviral treatment is associated with prolonged OS time after chemoembolization for HCC,especially in patients with early-stage tumors. Introduction: Most hepatocellular carcinomas (HCC) develop in a background of underlying liver disease including chronic hepatitis B. However, the effect of antiviral therapy on the long-term outcome of patients with hepatitis B virus (HBV) -related HCC treated with chemoembolization is unclear. This study aimed to evaluate the survival benefits of anti-HBV therapy after chemoembolization for patients with HBV-related HCC. Methods: A total of 224 HCC patients who successfully underwent chemoembolization were, and their survival and other relevant clinical data were reviewed . Kaplan-Meier and Cox regression analyzes were performed to validate possible effects of antiviral treatment on overall survival (OS). Results: The median survival time (MST) was 15.9 (95% confidence interval [CI] the antiviral group and 9.6 (95% CI, 7.8-13.7) months in the non-antiviral group (log-rank test, P = 0.044). Cox multivariate analysis revealed that antiviral treatment was a prognostic factor for O Additionally, a further analysis was based on the stratification of the TNM tumor stages. In the subgroup of early stages, MST was significantly longer in the antiviral-treatment group than in non-antiviral group (61.8 months [95% CI 34.8 months to beyond the follow-up period] versus 26.2 [95% CI 14.5-37.7] months, P = 0.012) .Multivariate analysis identified antiviral treatment as a prognostic factor for OS in the early-stage subgroup (P = 0.006) .owever, in the subgroup of advanced stages, MST of the antiviral-treated group was comparable to that of the non-antiviral group (8.4 [95% CI, 5.2-13.5] months versus 7.4 [95% CI , 5.9-9.3] months, P = 0.219). Multivariate analysis did not indicate that antiviral treatment was a significant prognostic factor in this subgroup. Conlusion: Antiviral treatment is associated with prolonged OS time after chemoembolization for HCC, especially in patients with early- stage tumors.