Feasibility and effectiveness of chemical bile duct embolization for chemical hepatectomy: a preliminary study

The high operative risk of hepatectomy for specially located intrahepatic stones is still a problem to be solved. This study was undertaken to investigate the feasibility and effectiveness of chemical bile duct embolization for chemical hepatectomy.

Oxybenzene or absolute ethanol plus N-butyl-cyanoacrylate was employed for embolization. The feasibility, effectiveness and mechanism of chemical hepatectomy were preliminarily analyzed histologically or by Fas, TIMP-1, TGF-beta(1), and collagen I.

Oxybenzene plus cyanonacrylate can preferably destroy and embolize the intrahepatic biliary duct, leading to the disappearance of hepatocytes in the periphery of embolized lobe and the achievement of effective chemical hepatectomy. The expressions of Fas, TIMP-1 and TGF-beta(1) in oxybenzene embolism group (88.90 +/- 38.10, 619.43 +/- 183.42, 185.22 +/- 70.39) and ethanol embolism group (72.39 +/- 29.51, 407.55 +/- 134.74, 163.56 +/- 51.75) were higher than those of biliary duct-ligated group (26.31 +/- 12.07, 195.31 +/- 107.67, 74.84 +/- 40.73) (P<0.05). The collagen I-positive percentage in the oxybenzene embolism group was also greater than that of the ethanol embolism group (33.97 +/- 12.51% vs. 20.67 +/- 8.09%, P<0.05).

The effect of chemical hepatectomy may be achieved by chemical bile duct embolization.