Objective: To test the effect of bed rest time reduction on back pain and vascular complication in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma after transcatheter arterial chemoembolization (TACE).
Material and Method: This study was two-group randomized controlled trial. A total of 54 patients with hepatocellular carcinoma, receiving TACE enrolled from October 2015-November 2016, were purposively selected and randomly assigned equally to receive either 6 hours (the control group) or 3 hours (the experimental group) of bed rest after TACE was achieved. Patients in both groups were evaluated back pain by the pain Numerical Rating Scale and vascular complications by Hematoma Formation and Bleeding Scale. Data were analyzed by chi-square test and Mann-Whitney U-test.

Results: The mean total score on back pain in the experimental group was significantly lower than that of the control group at 6 and 8 hours following TACE (p-value< 0.000). No vascular complications was found in both the groups.
Conclusion: Reducing bed rest time from 6 hours to 3 hours of patients following TACE can decrease the severity of back pain and has no effect on the incidence of vascular complications.