Bland embolization versus radioembolization for treatment of multifocal hepatocellular carcinoma

• Published in: Journal of vascular and interventional radiology Vol. 24; no. 4; pp. S158 - S159
• Main Authors: Vikingstad, E.M, Suhocki, P, Engstrom, B.I, Semmel, D, Pabon-Ramos, W.M, Gebhard, T.A, Sopko, D.R, Kim, C.Y
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: 01-04-2013
• Subjects: Radiology
• ISSN: 1051-0443
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jvir.2013.01.398

Purpose To compare overall survival rates after treatment of multifocal hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) with bland versus radioembolization. Materials and Methods Review of our procedural database revealed 44 patients treated with radioembolization for HCC between 9/2007 and 2/2012. From 9/05 to 2/2009, 84 patients were treated with bland embolization for HCC. Patients with unifocal disease, portal vein thrombosis, extrahepatic disease, or Okuda stage III disease were excluded from subsequent analysis. The final study population consisted of 29 patients who underwent bland embolization (24 males, mean age 63 years) and 29 patients who underwent radioembolization (20 males, mean age 69 years). Clinical records were retrospectively reviewed. Survival rates were estimated using the Kaplan-Meier method and compared using the log rank test. Results A total of 31 bland embolization procedures were performed in 29 patients. Thirty-seven radioembolization procedures were performed in 29 patients. The 6 and 12 month survival rates for patients undergoing bland embolization were 86% and 71% respectively, compared to 83% and 60% for patients undergoing radioembolization (p=0.057). Analysis of Okuda staging revealed that 31% of patients undergoing bland embolization were stage I compared to 86% of patients undergoing radioembolization (p<0.01). Conclusion In this retrospective study, bland embolization and radioembolization demonstrated comparable overall survival rates for patients with multifocal HCC and without portal vein thrombus. However, the patients treated with bland embolization in this study had a higher Okuda disease stage than those treated with radioembolization.