The biliary drainage for patients with obstructive jaundice due to hepatocellular carcinoma

Abstract

Obstructive jaundice due to HCC often occurred when tumor was reached highly advanced stage. And HCC is sometimes prone to bleed, so it is very difficult to treat these HCC comparing with other malignant obstructive jaundice. We retrospectively investigated the significance of biliary drainage. In 12 patients, 8 cases (66.7%) were successfully drainaged by endoscopically with no severe complication. Survival period after first drainage was relatively short (1.6 months), but after drainage, 10 cases (83.3%) could be treated by chemotherapy. And if the chemotherapy was effective, survival period was extended significantly (P<0.01). Therefore, we recommend that the biliary drainage should be performed.