GALL BLADDER INFARCTION FOLLOWING TRANSCATHETER HEPATIC ARTERY EMBOLIZATION

Abstract

Fifty-eight patients who underwent transcatheter hepatic artery embolization (TAE) were divided into two groups. Patients who had cholecystectomy before TAE were placed in group A (8 patients), and those without cholecystectomy in group B (50 patients). The two groups were compared for changes in liver function and complaints following TAE, in order to investigate the relation between side effects and gallbladder infarction. No differences in GOT, GPT and LDH following TAE were found between the two groups. In group B, γ-GTP and Al-p were elevated after TAE in 16 (32%) and 9 (18%) patients, respectively. Elevation of the two enzymes was not observed in any of the patients in group A. Patients in both groups showed high fever after TAE at a considerable frequency. Many patients in group B felt abdominal pain after TAE, but only one patient in group A felt abdominal pain. Eight patients in group A underwent cholecystectomy when curative operations were done after TAE, and six of them were found to have gallbladder infarction. A correlation between elevated serum γ-GTP and Al-p and gall-bladder infarction was supposed to exist. Preceding cholecystectomy seems to be useful in preventing complaints following TAE.