[Improved cryosurgery for primary liver cancer]

Cryosurgery with liquid nitrogen was employed in treating 70 patients with primary liver cancer (PLC). There were 25 cases with small PLC (less than or equal to 5 cm). The postoperative course was uneventful in all. The 1-5 year survival rates were 59.1% (39/66), 37.5% (24/64), 27.0% (17/63), 17.5% (10/57), 12.5% (7/56), respectively in the whole series. The 1-5 year survival rates were 48.4% (15/31), 16.1% (5/31), 6.5% (2/31), 6.5% (2/31), 3.2% (1/31) for 31 cases treated 1973-1977, and 68.6% (24/35), 57.6% (19/33), 46.9% (15/32), 30.8% (8/26), 24.0% (6/25) for 39 cases treated 1978-1989. It is suggested that hepatic cryosurgery is a promising and safe treatment for non-resectable PLC. The remarkable improvement in survival in the latter time period might be attributed to the increased incidence of small PLC, the combined use of hepatic artery ligation and/or regional chemotherapy by hepatic artery cannulation and multimodality treatment.