• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.17 no.8
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• pp.4037-4041
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• 2016

Background: Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a common cancer that is frequently diagnosed at an advanced stage. Transarterial chemoembolisation (TACE) is an effective palliative treatment for patients who are not eligible for curative treatment. The two main methods for performing TACE are conventional (c-TACE) or with drug eluting beads (DEB-TACE). We sought to compare survival rates and tumour response between patients undergoing c-TACE and DEB-TACE at our centre. Materials and Methods: A retrospective cohort study of patients undergoing either treatment was carried out from January 2009 to December 2014. Tumour response to the procedures was evaluated according to the modified Response Evaluation Criteria in Solid Tumors (mRECIST). Kaplan-Meier analysis was used to assess and compare the overall survival in the two groups. Results: A total of 79 patients were analysed (34 had c-TACE, 45 had DEB-TACE) with a median follow-up of 11.8 months. A total of 20 patients in the c-TACE group (80%) and 12 patients in the DEB-TACE group (44%) died during the follow up period. The median survival durations in the c-TACE and DEB-TACE groups were $4.9{\pm}3.2$ months and $8.3{\pm}2.0$ months respectively (p=0.008). There was no statistically significant difference noted among the two groups with respect to mRECIST criteria. Conclusions: DEB-TACE demonstrated a significant improvement in overall survival rates for patients with unresectable HCC when compared to c-TACE. It is a safe and promising approach and should potentially be considered as a standard of care in the management of unresectable HCC.

• Korean Journal of Radiology
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.34-49
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• 2019

Conventional transcatheter arterial chemoembolization (c-TACE) is a widely used first-line palliative treatment for patients with unresectable hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Despite the effectiveness of c-TACE, to date, technique and procedure scheduling has not yet been standardized. Drug-eluting microspheres (DEMs) were therefore introduced to ensure more sustained and tumor-selective drug delivery for permanent embolization. These DEMs can load various drugs and release them in a sustained manner over a prolonged period. This approach ensures the delivery of high concentrations of chemotherapeutic agents to tumors, without increasing systemic concentrations, and promote tumor ischemia and necrosis. This review summarizes the recent advances in the use of DEM-TACE to treat HCC.