RESUMO
The therapeutic effect of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) was assessed by the serial change of serum AFP value before and after treatment. Subjects were 56 therapies for HCCs in 48 cases, who were diagnosed as inoperative HCCs, and were performed chemotherapy, transcatheter hepatic arterial embolization (TAE) and percutaneous ethanol injection therapy (PEIT). As the indicator of therapeutic effect, the angle (supplement) alpha was used, that was formed by the cross of two lines based on several points of serum AFP value on the hemilogarithm graph before and after treatment respectively. The alpha were distributed from -34 degrees to 118 degrees, and its mean value was 32 +/- 38 degrees (+/-SD). The angle alpha value of cases evaluated as CR or PR was high, and that of PD was low. We could quantitatively assess the effects evaluated as NC by tumor size. The survival curve of group with high alpha value was significantly longer than that of group with low value. It was concluded that this method using angle alpha based on the serial change of serum AFP value was useful for clinical assessment of HCCs treatment.