Caffeine clearance in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma after transcatheter oily chemoembolization treatment.
BACKGROUND
Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a common neoplasm worldwide, particularly in Asia, with a grave prognosis. Transcatheter Oily Chemoembolization (TOCE) is now universally accepted as the method of choice for the treatment of inoperable HCC. The purpose ofthis study was to evaluate caffeine clearance, a quantitative liver function assessment, in HCC patients before and after treatment with TOCE.


METHODS
Both conventional liver function test (LFT) and caffeine clearance were evaluated in twelve patients. Each patient took a 3.5 mg/kg single oral dose of caffeine solution before TOCE, 1 day and 5 weeks after treatment. Blood samples were subsequently collected at 0.5, 1.5, 3, 5, 10 and 24 hours after each dose of caffeine administration and assayed for serum caffeine level by the HPLC technique. Clearance (Cl) was calculated using the equation of Cl = Kel x Vd (Kel = elimination rate constant, Vd = volume of distribution) and half-life was determined using pharmacokinetic analysis.


RESULTS
The mean caffeine clearance 1 day after TOCE (0.51 +/- 0.096) and 5 weeks after TOCE treatment (0.43 +/- 0.07) was significantly reduced compared with the mean caffeine clearance before treatment (0.79 . 0.2 ml/min x kg) with the p = 0.06 and p = 0.03, respectively. No significant changes (p > 0.05) in most conventional LFT were observed 5 weeks after treatment.


CONCLUSIONS
In the present study, the authors found that caffeine clearance was reduced after TOCE in patients with HCC inspite of no changes in conventional LFT. Thus, the determination of caffeine clearance can serve as a useful parameter for the assessment of hepatic functional reserve in HCC patients post TOCE treatment.
Thong-Ngam
Duangporn
D
Department of Physiology, Faculty of Medicine, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok 10330, Thailand.
Thumvijit
Lakhana
L
Tangkijvanich
Pisit
P
Janchai
Akkawat
A
Mahachai
Varocha
V
Wittayalertpanya
Supeecha
S
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D002110:Caffeine / Q000652:urine*; D006528:Carcinoma, Hepatocellular / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology / Q000628:therapy*; D016461:Chemoembolization, Therapeutic / Q000379:methods*; D015331:Cohort Studies; D016001:Confidence Intervals; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D007459:Iodized Oil / Q000627:therapeutic use; D008111:Liver Function Tests; D008113:Liver Neoplasms / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology / Q000628:therapy*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D010166:Palliative Care / Q000379:methods*; D011336:Probability; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D015996:Survival Rate; D016896:Treatment Outcome
D002110:Caffeine; D007459:Iodized Oil