Gemcitabine transcatheter arterial chemoembolization for unresectable hepatocellular carcinoma

Transcatheter arterial chemoembolization (TACE) has been shown to increase survival in patients with unresectable hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), however toxicity from commonly used agents limits its use in unresectable disease. Gemcitabine is a well tolerated chemotherapeutic agent with a high first pass clearance. In this study we evaluated a cohort of patients with unresectable HCC treated with gemcitabine-TACE alone.

A review of all patients that underwent gemcitabine-TACE for unresectable HCC from 2002 to 2006 was performed. No patients were eligible for resection, liver transplantation or ablation. All patients received gemcitabine-TACE alone. The primary outcome measure was survival from first treatment. Secondary outcome measures included radiological response and toxicity.

55 patients underwent a total of 172 gemcitabine-TACE treatments for unresectable HCC. Median age was 64.7 years. All patients had Barcelona-Clinic Liver Cancer (BCLC) stage B (44%) or C (56%) disease. Median survival following gemcitabine-TACE was 8.8 months. 22% demonstrated a partial response and 61% had stable disease. 6% experienced grade 3/4 adverse events. There was 1 treatment related death.

Gemcitabine-TACE is well tolerated and appears to provide an alternative agent for patients with unresectable HCC undergoing chemoembolization.