[Transcatether chemoembolization in the treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma]

The authors describe their own experience with chemoembolization as a palliation in the treatment of non resectable hepatocellular carcinoma.

During period of 64 months procedure was performed in 41 patients with non resectable hepatocellular carcinoma. The combination of Lipiodol and chemotherapeutic agents were applied in a. hepatica propria and its branches via transfemorally placed catheter. Stages of neoplasms were defined by Okuda method.

The majority of tumors (30) were classified as Grade I. Liver cirrhosis was present in 36 patients, and abnormal levels of alpha-fetoprotein were found in 68% of cases. Each of twenty nine patients had more than one chemoembolization therapy, therefore, a total of 85 treatments were carried out. CT scanning perfomed one month following the procedure revealed more than 75% of Lipiodol retention in 42% of cases, and over 90% of neoplasm necrosis was recorded in 90% of cases, while all treated patients manifested lower levels of alpha-fetoprotein. All patients survived during three and six months, respectively, while the survival rate was 68% after 18 months. No letal outcome was reported during procedure, and morbidity in relation to total number of interventions was 19%.

Achieved effects of this relatively safe procedure in our series do not differ significantly from those in the literature.