PREDICTION OF RECURRENCE AFTER HCC RESECTION - FAINT OILY DEPOSITS ONPREOPERATIVE LIPIODOL-CT OF REMNANT LIVER-TISSUE

In trying to clarify the high recurrence rate after removal of small h epatocellular carcinoma (HCC), we assessed the postoperative evolution of minute hepatic Lipiodol deposits which had been diagnosed as artif acts on the preoperative Lipiodol-CT. Of 27 patients with solitary HCC less than 5 cm in diameter, 14 had such Lipiodol deposits in the preo perative CT and 9 of them (64%) developed recurrent tumors. On the oth er hand, 6 of the 13 patients without deposits (46%) suffered recurren ce, but in 5 of these 6 patients the HCC was metachronous multicentric . The cumulative survival rate of the non-deposit group was better tha n that of the deposit group (p<0.1). The present study suggested that, even in patients with small HCC, minute concomitant tumors invisible by conventional imaging techniques may exist at the lime of surgery. S ome of these lesions without sufficient tumor vasculature showing a hy pervascular blush on angiography appear to retain small, vague Lipiodo l deposits.