1991 Volume 32 Issue 6 Pages 613-617
Ultrasonically guided percutaneous ethanol injection therapy (PEIT) was performed in 10 patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC, nodular type, 5-9cm in diameter) in whom neither surgery nor transcatheter arterial embolization (TAE) was carried out. The average number of times of treatment was eight. The average total amount of injected ethanol was 96ml. The survival period of each patient to date was between 7 months and 32 months. In the entireseries, only three patients died as a result of advanced HCC.
Except for one patient who recieved insufficient treatment due to severe abdominal pain, the ayerage decrease rate of the main tumor after 6 months was 36%. Recurrence was detected in 8 patients between 8 months and 28 months after treatment.
We performed PEIT for recurrent nodules and were able to supress the recurrent nodules from advancing. Although we used a large dose of ethanol, clinically relevant side effects or complications were not noted and liver function did not worsen. We conclude that PEIT may be a potentially effective treatment for large sized HCC in whom neither surgery nor TAE was applied.
