Transcatheter arterial chemoembolization technique in cirrhotic patients with hepatocarcinoma. Considerations on the procedure and evaluation of survival

: Two hundred and eight cirrhotic patients with HCC underwent TACE with a standardized technique. Kaplan-Meier survival rates and 12, 24 at 36 months were 62%, 44% and 25%, respectively. Compared with 407 untreated patients, our series had a longer life expectancy, i.e., from 15 months after treatment on. Life experience was statistically different with the L-R test between the groups selected by Child-Pugh cirrhosis staging (p = 0.00000); all 8 Child-Pugh C patients died within 7 months; a high statistical difference was found between Child-Pugh A and B groups (p = 0.00012). Life experience was statistically different with the L-R test between the four groups selected by tumor size and spread (p = 0.012); statistical significance was not reached between contiguous groups in group vs. group comparisons. The patients with monofocal tumors, regardless of size, survive longer than those with multifocal and infiltrative (p = 0.0010) and those with multifocal (p = 0.0029) lesions. Hazard analysis, according to the stratified Cox model, proved tumor-size and Child-Pugh staging to be prognostic factors (p = 0.00027; p = 0.00000) which exhibit a highly significant correlation with each other (p = 0.00000). With the proportional hazard Cox model, tumor characteristics and Child-Pugh stage resulted to be highly significant independent prognostic factors (p = 0.013 and p = 0.000, respectively). Patient survival rates were graphically plotted against literature rates in 407 untreated patients classified by tumor size and by the Child-Pugh method: the two-year survival rates were higher in the subgroups of patients submitted to TACE. To conclude, TACE is an effective treatment not only for multifocal HCCs, but also for large monofocal and infiltrative HCCs. In contrast, TACE is quite useless in the patients with Child-Pugh C cirrhosis.