Clinical observation on high intensity focused ultrasound combined with transcatheter arterial chemoembolization in the treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma / 中华外科杂志

ABSTRACT

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To study on the efficacy, prognosis and security of high-intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) combined with transcatheter arterial chemoembolization (TACE) in the treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Totally 72 HCC patients treated by HIFU from December 2009 to January 2011 were divided into two groups according to treatment methods: 40 cases in HIFU group, 32 cases in TACE + HIFU treatment group (combined group). Then set up a control group include 40 cases treated by only TACE in the same period (TACE group). The improvement of clinical symptoms, AFP, reduce rate of tumor volume, survival rate of 1 year after operation and postoperative complications in front and behind the treatment were analyzed.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>There was no significant statistical difference on the improvement of clinical symptoms in all these three groups (P > 0.05) after treatment for HCC. There is no significant statistical difference also on reduce rate of tumor volume and decrease rate of AFP in both HIFU group (35.0%, 41.4%) and TACE group (37.5%, 41.9%) (χ² = 0.054, P = 0.816; χ² = 0.002, P = 0.965). Both reduce rate of tumor volume (62.5%) and decrease rate of AFP (72.0%) in combined group were better than HIFU group (χ² = 5.394, P = 0.020; χ² = 5.098, P = 0.024) and TACE group (37.5%, 41.9%) (χ² = 4.448, P = 0.035; χ² = 5.062, P = 0.024). Kaplan-Meier survival curve showed that there was no significant statistical difference on short-term survival rate in the 3 groups. But the long-term survival rate of combined group was better than TACE group and HIFU group.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>TACE combined with HIFU is a effective, safe and noninvasive treatment method to HCC.</p>