Excellent outcomes with angiographic subsegmentectomy in the treatment of typical hepatocellular carcinoma: a retrospective study of local recurrence and long-term survival rates in 120 patients with hepatocellular carcinoma.

BACKGROUND: The authors successfully adopted an interesting and effective treatment for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) referred to as angiographic subsegmentectomy (AS). This treatment involved simultaneous embolization of the peripheral feeding artery and the portal vein. The result was that almost all of the HCC and peripheral liver parenchyma developed complete anatomic necrosis. METHODS: To determine the effectiveness of this method, the authors retrospectively studied the local recurrence rates of 49 solitary HCCs and the long-term survival rates of 120 patients with HCC between 2000 and 2008. RESULTS: The results indicated that, in 31 small, solitary HCCs (<2.0 cm), the local recurrence rate was only 9.6%; and, in 10 slightly larger HCCs (<3.0 cm), the local recurrence rate was only 10%. The 5-year, 8-year, and 10-year survival rates for patients with stage I and stage I/Child-Pugh grade A HCC were 74.27% and 77.65%, 53.05% and 51.76%, and 53% and 51.76%, respectively; and the 5-year, 8-year, and 10-year survival rates for patients with stage II and stage II/Child-Pugh grade A HCC were 66.21% and 71.41%, 39.9% and 39.60%, and 29.92% and 25%), respectively. There were no severe complications. CONCLUSIONS: AS should be investigated further as potential first-line therapy for the treatment of patients with stage I and II HCC.

Computed tomography angiographic findings in hepatocellular carcinoma less than 2 cm detected during follow-up in 29 patients.

AIMS: The early stage of hepatocarcinogenesis is not well understood pathologically and clinically. The present study was designed to define small (early) hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) angiographically using the angio-helical computed tomography (CT) system. METHODS: Arterial portography CT and hepatic arteriography CT were carried out in 29 patients in whom small HCC < or = 20 mm was detected during follow-up. RESULTS: There were 17 males and 12 females, aged 47 to 85 years. The offending virus was hepatitis B in four, hepatitis C in 24 and no virus marker in one case. The follow-up period varied from less than a year to 17 years, averaging 6.4 years. The underlying disease was cirrhosis in 12 and chronic hepatitis in 17 cases. The mass was solitary in 16 and multiple in 13 cases, while the size of the mass ranged from 8-20 mm. All lesions were low in attenuation on arterial portography CT, and in 23 of 30 lesions hepatic arteriography CT showed high attenuation, suggesting arterial blood supply. In the remaining 7 cases, lesions were perhaps in the transition from portal to arterial. CONCLUSIONS: It was concluded that HCC develops frequently in a liver with chronic hepatitis, often muticentrically, and that early HCC lesions are more often overt HCC already with arterial blood supply, rather than extremely well-differentiated supplied by the portal vein as generally believed.

Angiographic subsegmentectomy for the treatment of patients with small hepatocellular carcinoma.

BACKGROUND: The therapeutic results of nonsurgical treatment for patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) have been poor, and improved treatments are needed. The authors recently developed a new technique called angiographic subsegmentectomy for the treatment of patients with small HCC. METHODS: The technique includes confirming the diagnosis of small HCC using a helical computed tomography (CT) scan combined with an angiography system for identifying the tumor-feeding subsegmental hepatic artery, injecting lipiodol containing farmorubicin until it enters the portal vein in sufficient amounts, and injecting sponge particles into the hepatic artery for embolization. Occlusion of the hepatic artery with gel particles and occlusion of the portal vein by lipiodol induce infarction necrosis, which encompasses the entire tumor and the surrounding liver parenchyma. RESULTS: The treatment was given to 23 patients with 30 HCC tumors that measured < 20 mm in greatest dimension. It was successful in all 23 patients. Serum alanine aminotransferase levels were elevated to a significant level in the majority of patients after treatment, mild ascites developed in three patients, and the patients complained of pain and fever posttreatment that were controlled readily. No patients developed hepatic failure. Only one patient developed recurrent disease posttreatment at 1.5 years, for a recurrence rate of 5% at 1 year and 6.6% at 1.5 years, a rate that has never been achieved with other treatment modalities. CONCLUSIONS: Angiographic subsegmentectomy is a novel treatment for patients with small HCC. The results indicated that it is equivalent to undergoing small resection and is superior to conventional arterial chemoembolization.