[Chemoembolization of hepatocellular carcinoma with drug eluting beads]

Rates of hepatocellular carcinoma are increasing worldwide, and most patients can only be offered palliative treatment. Recent advancement is chemoembolization with drug eluting beads (DEB, Biocompatibles). We treated 12 patients with DEB. Tumour response was evaluated by computer tomography two months after each procedure and clinical data and survival of patients was collected from case reports. Tumour necrosis was found in nine, but not in three patients. Eight of twelve patients were alive after one year. Severe procedure-related complications were not seen. Our primary experience is that chemoembolization with drug eluting beads is an effective and safe procedure for treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma.