Assessment of the relationship between hepatocellular carcinoma location and its response to transarterial chemoembolization

Abstract

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is one of the most common cancers worldwide, and has a poor prognosis unless treated. Transarterial chemoembolization of HCC lesions is a promising treatment option for patients who are not eligible for surgery. Different prognostic variables are used to predict the efficacy of TACE in different patients including tumor size, portal vein invasion, alpha-feto protein level, Child-Pugh grade and performance status. The relations between the HCC location and its response to TACE has not been enough studied as a prognostic variable. Our study evaluated 149 HCC nodules (111 patients) and analyzed the association between the response to TACE and the nodule location. There was a significant difference between the completer response (CR) and the non-CR group in the location of the HCC regarding its segment and the response to TACE with the anterior segment lesions achieving higher rates of complete response (CR) (P .03), and the distance between the tumor and the liver capsule with the subcapsular lesions showing higher rates of non-CR (P .02). However, there was no significant difference between the CR and the non-CR group regarding the location between the right and the left lobes (P .48) and the central versus peripheral lesions (P .41).