Efficacy of TACE in treatment of intraportal tumor thrombi with double helical CT]

The present study observed alterations of the intraportal tumor thrombi before and after transcatheter hepatic arterial chemo-embolization(TACE) in 36 patients with massive hepatocellular carcinoma(HCC). Elscint double helical CT was used to scan liver in the portal phase before and after TACE. The results showed that the scan technique could be used to evaluate the distribution of intraportal tumor thrombi. After treating with TACE, retention of iodized oil was found in the intraportal tumor thrombi(14/36), and the intraportal tumor thrombi were reduced in 28 out of 36 cases. The survival rate was more than 1 year in 20 patients. These data indicate that the blood supply of the intraportal tumor thrombi comes from hepatic arterial system. TACE seems to be valuable for the treatment of intraportal tumor thrombi with massive HCC.