From 1993-1995 trans-catheter arterial embolization (TAE) was performed against 129 nodules (75 primary and 54 post-surgical relapsed tumors) of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).
Their angiographic images were classified by some characteristic points like as follows ; Tumor margin (clear or unclear), Homogeneity of staining (homogeneous or heterogeneous), and Degree of staining (strongly enhanced or slightly enhanced). Completely necrotic nodule was defined as a nodule with no evidence of relapse for more than one year after TAE. Necrotic rate of clear margin nodules, homogeneous staining nodules and strongly enhanced nodules were relatively high at 61%, 57% and 40% respectively. These findings were supposed to be a good parameter for the prediction of therapeutic effects of TAE.
And in post operative recurrent cases, clearly margined, homogeneous and strongly enhanced nodules appeared more frequently and showed better response for TAE than non surgical cases.
The most preferable nodule size for TAE therapy was considered to be 20mm-30mm in non sugical cases and 10mm-20mm in post operative recurrent cases of which necrotic rate were 42 and 68%, respectively.
By adopting these parameters we might be able to obtain better therapeutic result of TAE.
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