Transarterial chemoembolization for treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma: A single center experience.

Background/aims: We aimed to determine the effect of transarterial chemoembolization treatment on survival in patients with hepato- cellular carcinoma and to investigate the efficacy and tolerability of two different transarterial chemoembolization procedures, conventio- nal transarterial chemoembolization and drug-eluting beads, in these patients. Materials and Methods: A total of 40 patients with he- patocellular carcinoma treated with transarterial chemoembolization between January 2007 and March 2011 were included. Thirty-seven patients had Child-Pugh class A and the remaining 3 had class B. Intra-arterial administration of doxorubicin with lipiodol-based con- ventional transarterial chemoembolization or drug-eluting beads-transarterial chemoembolization was performed. Eighty sessions were performed with a median of 2 sessions. Sixteen patients were treated with conventional transarterial chemoembolization and 11 with drug- eluting beads-based transarterial chemoembolization, and 13 were treated with both treatment procedures in separate sessions. Primary outcome was defined as patient survival after treatment. Results: The median follow-up was 19 months. The median overall survival of patients was 23.2 months. The survival of patients with Child-Pugh class A was significantly better than that of patients with class B (24 vs 6 months, p=0.004). No statistically significant difference in survival was observed between conventional transarterial chemoemboliza- tion and drug-eluting beads-based transarterial chemoembolization treatments (p>0.05). Baseline low serum albumin level (p=0.003) and the presence of portal vein thrombosis (p=0.011) negatively affected patient survival. Side effects of conventional transarterial chemoembo- lization and drug-eluting beads-based transarterial chemoembolization were similar. Conclusions: Based on the results of this study and in comparison with the findings in the literature, transarterial chemoembolization treatment was seen to improve overall survival and pro- vide better outcome in selected patients with hepatocellular carcinoma. No differences in survival or side effects were observed between the two transarterial chemoembolization treatment modalities.