Radiation therapy of hepatocellular carcinoma

: After the transhepatic arterial therapy, irradiated 11 patients with hepatocellular carcinoma were investigated clinically and pathologically. As the effect to the main tumors except for 3 cases who dropped out because of the side effect of irradiation, partial response (PR) was found in 1 case, minor response (MR) was in 2. There was no change (NC) in 4 and 1 had progressive disease (PD), so the rate of effectiveness was 12.5%. Irradiation to the tumor thrombosis of the portal vein were done for seven cases, 2 of them (28.6%) showed the decrease of the thrombosis or improvement of the blood stream in the portal vein on angiography or histology. AFP decreased in four of seven measurable cases within one month after the irradiation. Side effects were jaundice, fever, appetite loss and so on, which were seen especially in cases of Child's B or C. Liver dysfunction and bone marrow suppression were also observed though not so severe. For the cases received lipiodol injection before radiation, lipiodol collection to the tumor was beneficial for the determination of the irradiated field.