Efficacy of combination treatment - (TAE with adriamycin and ethanol) - for hepatocellular carcinoma

Among 44 patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), combination treatment with both transhepatic arterial embolization (TAE) and ethanol injection therapy (EIT) was performed in 10 patients. Only two had tumors measuring less than 3 cm in diameter. In all, eight patients had solitary tumors and two had multiple tumors. The tumor was classified as stage I in one patient, stage II in six subjects, stage III in two patients, and stage IV in one subject prior to TAE, but one stage II case was changed to stage III after laparotomy. The clinical stage was I in two patients, II in six subjects and III in two patients. Five patients with tumors of stages I and II achieved either a complete response (CR) or partial response (PR). However, three patients with tumors of stages III and IV showed progressive disease (PD). Thus, the response rate (CR+PR) was 50%. For tumor stages I and II, the 1-, 2-, and 3-year survival values were 100%, 100%, and 83%, respectively. For tumor stages III and IV, the 1- and 2-year survival values were 75% and 25%, respectively. Combination treatment of HCC appears to be efficacious for tumor stages I and II.