Predictive factors of severe abdominal pain during and after transarterial chemoembolization for hepatocellular carcinoma.

• Severe abdominal pain occurs in 43% of TACE for HCC. • Younger age, absence of cirrhosis, and absence of alcoholic liver disease were identified as independent predictive factors of severe abdominal pain. • A simple combination of the three abovementioned features helped predict the occurrence of severe abdominal pain.