The clinical value of terminal branches portal vein embolization for hepatocellular carcinoma with insufficient future liver remnant

Abstract

Objectives: To examine the efficacy of terminal branches portal vein embolization(TBPVE) for the increment of FLR in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) patients and to introduce its clinical value with transcatheter chemoembolization(TACE) in the treatment of HCC patients without surgery. Methods: One hundred and fifty HCC patients from three clinical centers of china underwent TBPVE technique from December 2016 to May 2021,including 89 males and 61 females. The average age was 51.9 years(range:18 to 79 years).One hundred and one patients were diagnosed with a background of HBV infection,including 27 patients with portal venous hypertension.TACE was performed simultaneously with TBPVE in 102 patients.Fifty-three patients underwent hepatectomy,who were subdivided into HBV positive and HBV negative groups,with TACE and without TACE groups to analyze the increment of future liver remnant (FLR), complications and survival data.These data were also analyzed in other 97 patients without hepatectomy. Results: All the patients reached adequate FLR successfully in 14 days after TBPVE including patients with portal venous hypertension.The average increment rates of FLR was 56.2% in 7 days and 57.8% in 14 days after TBPVE. There was no significant difference neither between HBV positive and HBV negative groups(7 days:(55.0±27.3)% vs.(57.8±20.9)%,t=0.885,P=0.373; 14 days:(57.3±24.6)% vs.(58.3±23.7)%;t=0.801,P=0.447),or between with TACE and without TACE groups(7 days:(62.3±26.3)% vs. (48.8±20.6)%;t=1.788,P=0.077;14 days:(64.4±25.0)% vs.(55.2±23.1)%;t=1.097,P=0.257).The morbidity and mortality rates were 20.8% and 1.9% in patients with hepatectomy.The 1-,3-year overall survival(OS) and disease-free(DFS) rates were 87.5%,64.5% and 64.7%,40.6% for patients underwent surgery.There was no significant difference of 1-,3-year OS and DFS between HBV positive and negative groups,but there were different between TACE and without TACE groups.The 1-,3-year OS for patients underwent TBPVE and TACE but without surgery were 80.1%, 53.7%. Conclusion: TBPVE is a good alternative technique for modulation of FLR for staged hepatectomy even in HBV positive HCC patients and can be applied with TACE procedure simultaneously as an option treatment for patients with no intend to surgery.