title: Histopathological assessment of tumoral destruction by alcoholization in an experimental model of human hepato-cellular carcinoma transplanted in nude mice.
abstract: This study aims to assess the efficacy of intra-tumoral alcoholization as a potential therapy against small hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). The experimental model consisted of 20-mm diameter tumors resulting from subcutaneous abdominal injection of Hep G2 human hepatoma cell lines into nude mice (nu/nu). Alcoholization was performed using either a single centro-tumoral injection or multiple cross-shaped injections (tangential and oblique), during one sequence with a total dose of 0.1, 0.2 or 0.3 ml of 95% ethanol. Efficacy was assessed by the percentage of tumoral necrosis using a semi-quantitative method. Fifty-four tumors were alcoholized. Forty-eight hours following alcoholization, the tumor was regularly replaced by a necrotic ulcer. A single centro-tumoral injection always resulted in the persistence of a small peripheral edge of tumor cells even with the highest dose used (no dose-related effect). By contrast, the use of multiple injections restored a dose-related effect. Oblique cross-shaped injections of 0.3 ml of ethanol resulted in the highest mean tumoral necrosis rate (m +/- SD = 99 +/- 1%; range = 97-100). This study confirms that alcoholization is an efficient way to destroy hepatocarcinoma tissue and suggests that ethanol diffusion in HCC is less than 20 mm. In addition it demonstrates that increasing number and location of injections restores a dose-related effect, while efficacy is improved using oblique injections.
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire de Recherche en Pathologie Hépatique et Pancréatique, Hotel Dieu, Lyon, France.
authors.forename: J F
authors.initials: JF
authors.lastname: Ain
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Gouillat
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Bertrand
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Fourel
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Guillaud
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Saguier
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Trepo
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000431:Ethanol / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D006801:Humans; D008114:Liver Neoplasms, Experimental / Q000473:pathology* / Q000628:therapy*; D051379:Mice; D008819:Mice, Nude; D009368:Neoplasm Transplantation; D012044:Regression Analysis; D014407:Tumor Cells, Cultured
chemical_list: D000431:Ethanol