A case of hepatoma which showed a disappearance of multiple pulmonary metastases after transcatheter arterial embolization (TAE) of the tumor

A 52-year-old man with liver cirrhosis was admitted with a chief complaint of hemosputa. The α-fetoprotein(AFP)was elevated to 32000ng/ml. The findings of abdominal ultrasonogram, angiogram, plain chest x-ray, and CT scan of the chest revealed the hepatoma with multiple pulmonary metastases. TAE with one shot of intra-arterial infusion of MMC (16mg) was performed and administration of PSK(3g/day)was started. AFP levels decreased below 20ng/ml and pulmonary metastatic lesions disappeared after TAE. The patient remains well 18 months later with no pulmonary lesions, and AFP is within normal limits. The complete disappearance of pulmonary metastatic lesions seemed to be caused by improvement of the patient's immunity, which related with the regression of primary tumor after TAE. This case suggests that TAE is worth to be done even in the case of hepatoma with metastases.