EFFECT OF PERCUTANEOUS ETHANOL INJECTION FOR POSTOPERATIVE RECURRENCEOF HEPATOCELLULAR-CARCINOMA IN COMBINATION WITH TRANSCATHETER ARTERIAL EMBOLIZATION

Background/Aims: This study teas conducted to clarify the effect of pe rcutaneous ethanol injection (PEI) in combination with transcatheter a rterial embolization (TAE) on prolonging the survival time of patients with postoperative recurrence of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Mate rials and Methods: The subjects were 97 consecutive patients (pts) tre ated for postoperative recurrent HCC between February 1987 and March 1 993. Of these, 25 pts received both TAE and PEI and 72 pts received TA E alone. In the TAE & PEI group, treat ment was selected according to the indications: 15 pts received TAE for multiple recurrences followin g PEI, and the other 10 pts received PEI for a new or residual lesion following TAE. Fourteen demographic, pathological, and clinical variab les were evaluated to estimate the relative risk of pts treated with T AE & PES or with TAE alone. Results: The 1-, 3- and 5- year survival r ates in the TAE & PEI group were 100%, 73.2% and 27.2%, respectively, and those in the TAE alone group were 88.9%, 30.2% and 5.5%, respectiv ely. Based on multi variate Cox regression analysis, the relative risk of cancer death in the TAE & PEI group was 0.32 (95% confidence inter val, 0.15 to 0.67). Conclusion: We combination of TAE and PEI had a po sitive palliative effect and increased survival time of patients with postoperative recurrent HCC, compared to results obtained by TAE alone .