Prospective study on the survival of HCC patients treated with transcatheter arterial lipiodol chemoembolization

Tanscatheter arterial embolization irrespective of with or without an anticancer agent and lipiodol has been controversial with regard to survival benefit. Therefore, we conducted a prospective study to analyze the effect of transcatheter arterial lipiodol chemoembolization (TACE) on the survival of HCC.

A prospective study was conducted, and a total of 326 patients with primary liver cancer who were newly diagnosed were collected from January 2004 to January 2005 in Zhejiang Provincial People's Hospital of China. A univariate Cox's regression analysis was used to assess the survival of the HCC cases receiving TACE.

The duration of follow-up for the HCC patients treated with TACE ranged from 3 months to 60 months. For the overall patients, survival rate at 5 years was 42%. Both HBV Ag and HCV Ab positive patients showed significantly low survival rate at 5 years. The multivariate analysis revealed The IV TNM stage was related to an heavy increased risk of death of HCC patients, and Child C grade group showed a significant moderate increased risk.

Our study showed TACE is associated with a better prognosis of HCC patients, and the HBV infection, TNM stage, Child-Pugh grade and number of TACE may influence the survival probability. Further TACE studies should be assess the quality of life of HCC patients, so as to provide more information for treatment of HCC.