Objective: To investigate whether balloon-occluded transcatheter arterial chemoembolization (b-TACE) can produce a more dense accumulation of iodized oil in various stages of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), from single to uncountable, to overcome inferior local control.
Materials and methods: We studied 27 patients with HCC, including single to uncountable multiple lesions, who underwent b-TACE between August 2013 and April 2015. Dynamic CT was performed at baseline and 1-3 months after b-TACE. The treatment effect (TE) after b-TACE was evaluated using the Response Evaluation Criteria in Cancer of the Liver (RECICL) proposed by the Liver Cancer Study Group of Japan.
Results: In the countable HCC group, contrast-enhanced CT demonstrated RECICL TE4 in 43.8% (14/32), TE3 in 12.5% (4/32), TE2 in 37.5% (12/32), and TE1 in 6.3% (2/32) of patients. For the TACE-naïve cohort, the objective response rate was 52.9%. The objective response rate was 60% for the previously TACE-treated cohort. In the uncountable multiple HCC group, the objective response rate was 0% (0/10), with progressive disease in 90% (9/10) of patients.
Conclusion: Our observations suggested that b-TACE did not reduce the efficacy of retreatment for HCC with an insufficient outcome from conventional TACE, but it could not improve the efficacy of treatment for uncountable multiple HCCs.
© 2015 S. Karger AG, Basel.