Efficacy of hepatocellular carcinoma locoregional therapies on patients waiting for liver transplantation

The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of different locoregional therapies in patients with HCC on the waiting list for liver transplantation. From October 2001 to July 2003, 13 patients, all men, with HCC diagnosed by cytology, were transplanted at our center. Locoregional therapies were percutaneous ethanol injection (PEI), transcatheter hepatic arterial chemoembolization (TACE), and radiofrequency microwave ablation (RFA). PEI was employed in seven patients, TACE in five (one of them associated with PEI) and RFA in one. Efficacy was evaluated by determining the percentage of tumoral necrosis in the liver explant. Five tumors were T4, four T3, three T2, and one T1. Ten were well differentiated, two moderately differentiated, and one undifferentiated. One patient died due to primary graft malfunction. After a median posttransplant follow-up of 15 months, 12 patients are alive with no sign of tumor recurrence. Most patients with solitary nodules <4 cm who received PEI had 90% to 100% tumor necrosis. Larger tumors had 25% to 30% necrosis. TACE was employed in six patients with large and/or multiple tumors, obtaining 20% to 50% tumor necrosis. RFA was employed in one case obtaining 85% necrosis (tumor of 4 cm). No serious complications occurred with any technique. According to our experience, PEI and RFA are effective locoregional therapies to treat hepatocellular carcinomas of <4 cm in patients on the waiting list. For larger tumors, their association with other techniques, such as TACE, seems adequate.