[Comparison of liver resection with sequential transarterial chemoembolization in stage pT3 or pT4 hepatocellular...

Between January 1990 and January 1996, 39 consecutive patients with histologically improved pT3 or pT4 HCC tumors underwent curative resection (n = 19) or sequential transarterial chemoembolization (n = 20) with a median time interval of 7 weeks up to six times with an emulsion of Lipiodol, Epirubicin and Cisplatin. The 30-day mortality rate for all sessions of TA was 3.8% vs. 21.8% in the resection group (p < 0.05); the cumulative survival rate for the embolization group at 6, 12, 18 and 24 months was 72.3%, 50.1%, 41.2%, 35.4% vs. 42.1%, 31.6%, 31.6% and 14.2% following resection, which cannot be considered statistically significant. Patients with T3 and T4 HCC, treated with sequential embolization or resection, seem to have a comparable survival time.