[SMANCS/TAE for hepatocellular carcinoma: comparison with SMANCS/TAI]

To evaluate the effects of SMANCS/TAE for hepatocellular carcinoma, AFP reduction rates, tumor reduction rates of SMANCS/TAE were compared with those of SMANCS/TAI. SMANCS is a stylene-maleic acid neocarzinostatin. TAE means transcatheter arterial embolization with gelatin sponge after SMANCS infusion and TAI means transcatheter arterial infusion of only SMANCS-iodized oil suspension. For evaluation of the AFP reduction rate, 13 SMANCS/TAEs were compared with 32 SMANCS/TAIs. In these cases, pretreatment serum AFP levels were higher or equal to 100 ng/ ml. The average dose of SMANCS/TAE was 4.2 +/- 1.8 (S. D) mg and that of SMANCS/TAI was 3.9 +/- 1.8 (S. D) mg (N. S: t-test, p = 0.59). Student's t-test revealed that the AFP reduction rate of SMANCS/TAE was not significantly superior to that of SMANCS/TAI (p = 0.78), and both AFP reduction rate of SMANCS/TAE and SMANCS/ TAI were not correlated with the dose of SMANCS. Tumor reduction rates of 12 SMANCS/TAEs and 14 SMANCS/TAIs on CT examination were calculated. The average dose of SMANCS/TAE was 4.5 +/- 1.9 (S. D) mg and that of SMANCS/TAI was 3.8 +/- 2.1 (S. D) mg (N. S: t-test, p = 0.29). The average tumor reduction rate of SMANCS/TAE was 25.3 +/- 30.1 (S. D)% and of SMANCS/TAI was 13.8 +/- 29.1%. Student's t-test revealed the tumor reduction rate of SMANCS/TAE was not significantly larger than that of SMANCS/TAI (p = 0.33). AFP reduction rate and tumor reduction rate of SMANCS/TAE were not significantly different from those of SMANCS/TAI. Although the number of cases was not enough, these results suggest SMANCS/TAI should be applied for treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma rather than SMANCS/ TAE.