title: [Early determination of the effect of preoperative TAE by observation of serum AFP changes in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma].
abstract: Serum Alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) was assessed several times after preoperative TAE on 18 patients with hepatocellular carcinoma, and postoperatively the resected specimens were examined histopathologically. Changes in AFP level after TAE showed five typical patterns: AFP continued to rise in spite of treatment (non-effective type); AFP shows regular and equal increases and decreases (undulating type); AFP showed an increase after initially decreasing (increasing after decreasing type); AFP decreased gradually to normal levels (gradually decreasing type); and AFP decreased along a half-value period line to normal levels (half-value period type). These AFP patterns were intimately related to necrosis rate of tumor and other factors such as tumor size and existence of daughter tumors. Even when the AFP level decreased to 1/2 one week after TAE, the tumor showed only about 70% necrosis. Only when the AFP level fell into 1/4 of the original level after one week we could expect complete necrosis. Immuno-histological findings revealed AFP-producing cells in carcinoma but not in necrotic cells. It seems therefore, that the immuno-histological technique is uneffective in determining the viability of tumor cells.
mesh_terms: D006528:Carcinoma, Hepatocellular / Q000097:blood / Q000473:pathology / Q000628:therapy*; D004621:Embolization, Therapeutic; D006801:Humans; D008113:Liver Neoplasms / Q000097:blood / Q000473:pathology / Q000628:therapy*; D009336:Necrosis; D000509:alpha-Fetoproteins / Q000032:analysis* / Q000145:classification
chemical_list: D000509:alpha-Fetoproteins