| Abstract: | A group study was conducted to investigate the effect of intra-hepatic arterial administration of epirubicin in the treatment of non-resectable hepatocellular carcinoma(HCC). Sixty-four patients were entered into the study. There were 51 males and 13 females, with an age range from 32 to 79 years, the average being 59.1 years. Fifty-four patients had associated cirrhosis of the liver. Epirubicin at a dose of 60-90 mg/m2 was infused as a bolus into the hepatic artery 1 to 4 times (average 1.8) at an interval of 3 weeks to 3 months. Tumor size was properly evaluated in 53 patients. There were 1 CR, 7 PR, 7 MR, 27 NC, and 11 PD. Thus, the response rate (CR + PR) was 15.1%. Seventeen patients are still alive 305 to 720 days (mean 505 days) after the initial treatment. The most common side effects of this drug were bone marrow suppression, gastrointestinal complaints, and alopecia. Cardiac toxicity was negligible at the doses used in this study. A retrospective comparison of the present results with those for patients treated by intra-arterial administration of doxorubicin demonstrated that epirubicin is more effective than doxorubicin in terms of survival rate. The current study indicates that epirubicin may be a promising alternative in the treatment of HCC. The appropriate dosage of the drug and the interval for infusion are to be elucidated. Also, the combination of epirubicin with other cytostatic drugs is open for study. |
