Radiological response in Saudi patients undergoing transarterial chemoembolization for hepatocellular carcinoma

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the second commonest cancer affecting males and the eighth most common one affecting females in Saudi Arabia. Transarterial chemoembolization (TACE) is currently considered the first line therapy for multifocal HCC in selected patients.

To evaluate HCC response to TACE based on triphasic computerized tomography (CT) of the liver obtained 6 weeks after the procedure.

A retrospective chart review of 15 patients who underwent TACE in King Khalid University Hospital for unresectable HCC. Patients were staged according to the Child-Pugh, Okuda, and CLIP scoring systems. The first triphasic CT of the liver after TACE was evaluated for Lipiodol uptake and interval change in tumor burden.

The mean age was 63 years (40-82), 10 were males (66.7%), and five were females. About 11 patients had cirrhosis (73.3%). Eight patients (53.3%) were Child-Pugh class A while seven (46.7%) were Child-Pugh class B. One patient died and two were lost to follow up. Four patients had a complete response to TACE (26.7%), two had a partial response (13.3%), five showed no change (33.3%) and none showed progression of disease. Tumoral Lipiodol uptake in five patients was> 75% (33.3%), in two 75-50% (13.3%) while in four patients it was < 50% (26.7%).

Our results show that TACE is an effective method of reducing the tumor burden in selected patients with unresectable HCC.