[The relationship between hepatoma and portal vein]

Hepatic cells receive dual blood supply of the arterial and portal systems, but hepatoma has been thought to be supplied completely by hepatic artery. However, transcatheter hepatic artery embolization (TAE) has not been able to damage hepatoma entirely. For the study on the relationship between hepatoma and portal vein, I gave intraportal infusions of bromodeoxyuridine. (BrdU), an analogue of thymidine, to 10 patients with hepatoma at the time of surgery, and counted BrdU-positive nuclei immunohistochemically using the anti-BrdU monoclonal antibody. The labeling index, or percentage of BrdU-labelled cells, was 2.0 +/- 1.1% (mean +/- SD) in the cases without TAE and 11.9 +/- 4.2% in the other after TAE. On the other hand, examining the specimens with Microfil injected into the portal branch showed the distribution of portal branches in the hepatoma by radiograph or microscope. It is concluded that hepatoma does not receive arterial blood supply alone but the portal vein participates in vascular distribution of hepatoma, and the participation gets larger after TAE. It is suggested that this finding could be of great importance in planing treatment of patients with hepatoma.