Efficacy of Transcatheter Arterial Infusion Alone or Combined with Transcatheter Arterial Chemoembolization on Advanced Hepatocellular Carcinoma

Ming-Zhi Hao,Qi-Zhong Chen,Wen- Chang Yu,Hai- Lan Lin

doi:10.4172/1948-5956.1000074

Abstract

Objective: Interventional therapy for advanced hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is still controversial. This retrospective study was to evaluate the efficacy of transcatheter arterial infusion (TAI) alone or combined with transcatheter arterial chemoembolization (TACE) on advanced HCC. Methods: The study population consisted of 132 advanced HCC patients with Child-pugh A/B. Tumor in all patients was involved with main trunk of portal vein and/or inferior vena cava, or local lymph node metastasis, or distant metastasis. TAI alone or combined with TACE were performed in 65 patients with advanced HCC (interventional treatment group), 67 patients were treated with traditional Chinese herbal drug (Chinese herb group). The prime end point was overall survival (OS), and prognostic factors were analysed. Results: The median OS was 205 days [95% confidence interval (CI), 155-255 days] in interventional treatment group and 127 days (95% CI, 70-184 days) in Chinese herb group (P <0.05). The 6-month, 1-year, and 2-year OS rates were 58.9%, 29.1%, 7.7% in interventional treatment group, and 33.3%, 12.3%, 1.8% in Chinese herb group. The portal vein thrombosis, ECOG performance status were independent prognostic factors for OS. Conclusion: Interventional treatment could greatly prolong the OS of advanced HCC patients.

Highlights

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the sixth most common cancer in the world, and the third commonest cause of cancer mortality worldwide, with more than 80% of cases occurring in Asia [1,2]
About 110 000 persons die each year from hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) in China, which accounts for 45% of the deaths from HCC worldwide [3]
Many pharmacologic treatments have been tested against HCC; most of them belong to three categories: chemotherapy, hormone therapy, and immunotherapy

Summary

Methods

The study population consisted of 132 advanced HCC patients with Child-pugh A/B. Tumor in all patients was involved with main trunk of portal vein and/or inferior vena cava, or local lymph node metastasis, or distant metastasis. All patients with Child-pugh A/B had main trunk of portal vein and/or inferior vena cava thrombosis, or local lymph node metastasis, or distant metastasis. Of the 132 patients, 116 were men and 16 women; 87 had a serum AFP level of > 400 mg/L; 117 had positive hepatitis B virus infection; 89 had portal vein trunk and/ or inferior vena cava thrombosis, 56 had local lymph node metastasis, and 44 had distant metastasis; 94 were at Child-pugh grade A, 38 at Child-pugh grade B.

Results

Discussion

Conclusion