Surgery of icteric-type hepatoma after biliary drainage and transcatheter arterial embolization.

BACKGROUND/AIMS: The authors aimed to study the importance of pre-operative jaundice reduction in the surgical treatment of icteric-type hepatoma (IHCC). METHODOLOGY: A series of 10 patients with IHCC was reviewed. Eight out of the 10 patients underwent biliary drainage. Obstructive jaundice in the other 2 patients resolved spontaneously. Nine patients subsequently underwent transcatheter arterial embolization (TAE), which appeared to have an additional effect in reducing jaundice. RESULTS: Consequently, 9 of the 10 patients achieved sufficient reduction of the jaundice pre-operatively. After the evaluation of liver function, 8 patients underwent hepatectomy without any appreciable morbidity or mortality. The median survival time of the resected cases was 18 months. CONCLUSIONS: A combination of biliary drainage and subsequent TAE is a recommended pre-operative strategy for the successful surgical treatment of IHCC.