Evaluation of Lipiodol^TM in transcatheter arterial embolization for primary hepatocellular carcinoma

Analysis by Cox's proportional hazard model

Abstract

Using the Cox's proportional hazard model, we retrospectively and statistically analyzed 120 cases of primary hepatocellular carcinoma treated with transcatheter arterial embolization during the period from 1984 to 1989 to define the usefullness of Lipiodol^TM (LP) in TAE. The cases were divided into Gelfoam Sponge (GS) group (49 cases) and GS+LP group (75 cases) according to the embolic material used. The analysis by Cox's proportional hazard model revealed that the corrected survival rate for the GS group was 59.1% at 1 year and 25.1% at 2 years whereas the rate for GS+LP group was 80.8% at 1 year, 61.1% at 2 years, and 17.5% at 3 years, suggesting favorable effect of the concomitant use of LP on the prognosis of hepatocellular carcinoma. The risk ratio of TAE without LP to that with LP was 1.624.