Transcatheter Arterial Chemoembolization of Hepatocellular Carcinoma

Abstract

Hepatocellular carcinoma (НСС) is associated with liver cirrhosis in 80% of cases and when the tumor is diagnosed, the very poor hepatic function, due to the underlying liver disease, is so frequent that extended surgical resection is contraindicated in most cases. Because of the poor prognosis of nonresectable HCC, an aggressive approach is justified. Systemic or intraarterial chemotherapy has been used for years but has such a poor objective response rate in any of the large reported series that it has almost been abandoned. At the same time, the treatment of HCC by transcatheter arterial embolization (TAE) of the hepatic artery (ROCHE 1978) and then by combina­tion of occlusion and regional chemotherapy (transcatheter hepatic arterial chemoembolization, TACE) has been investigated and developed since the 1970s. In the early 1980s, the ability of Lipiodol to selectively target hepatic tumors when injected intraarterially was reported by Japanese authors and developed as a complementary therapeutic tool; and nowadays transcatheter hepatic arterial treatments such as TAE, TACE, Lipiodol-TACE (L-TACE) or Lipiodol chemotherapy (L-TAC) play an important role in the therapeutic management of НСС.KeywordsHepatocellular CarcinomaPortal VeinHepatic ArteryTumor ThrombusTranscatheter Arterial EmbolizationThese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.