• K Takenaka, K Yoshida, T Nishizaki, D Korenaga, K Hiroshige, T Ikeda, and K Sugimachi.
• Department of Surgery, Fukuoka City Hospital, Japan.
• Am. J. Surg. 1995 Apr 1; 169 (4): 400-4; discussion 405.

BackgroundTo determine a feasible postoperative adjuvant chemotherapy for patients with hepatocellular carcinoma, orally-administered chemotherapy (OC) and prophylactic lipiodolization (selective regional cancer chemotherapy using lipid contrast medium plus an anticancer drug) (PL) were compared prospectively.Patients And MethodsForty-eight patients who had undergone hepatic resection from 1989 to 1992 were divided into three groups: the control group (n = 19), given no chemotherapy; the OC group (n = 12), given 300 to 400 mg/d of 5-FU derivatives (either 1-hexylcarbamoyl-5-fluorouracil or uracil and tegafur, mean total dosage: 188 g, mean administrative duration: 18 months); and the PL group (n = 17), who underwent prophylactic lipiodolization 1.8 times on average using a 44-mg mean dose of epirubicin per treatment.ResultsNo statistical differences were found either in the 25 variables studied as a background analysis, or among the survival curves of the 3 groups. Recurrence was found in 23 remnant livers of the 48 patients. The 3-year, disease-free survival rate was 15%, 50%, and 86% in the control, OC, and PL groups, respectively. The disease-free survival curve of the PL group was significantly higher compared to either the control (P = 0.001) or the OC group (P = 0.025).ConclusionsProphylactic lipiodolization was found to be an effective treatment for patients with hepatocellular carcinoma for reducing intrahepatic recurrence after resection.

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