title: Prediction of complete necrosis of hepatocellular carcinoma treated with transarterial chemoembolization prior to liver transplantation.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Compact lipiodol uptake without enhancement on multiphasic helical computed tomography (CT) has been suggested as a radiologic response criterion in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) patients treated with transarterial chemoembolization (TACE) and subsequent partial hepatectomy. However, its usefulness has not been fully investigated in the explanted liver.
  
  
  METHODS
  Between 1998 and 2007, 81 patients with HCC underwent 1-9 sessions of TACE followed by liver transplantation (LT). Thirty-nine tumors in 29 patients showed a radiologic response on CT performed prior to LT. The radiologic response criteria and the duration of the response were evaluated to predict total necrosis in the explanted liver.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Among the 39 tumors, 34 nodules (87.2%) exhibited total pathological necrosis. While 13 out of 16 tumors (81.3%) with a radiologic response for 6 months or less were completely necrotic, 21 out of 23 tumors (91.3%) with a radiologic response of longer than 6 months showed total necrosis.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our results suggested that the radiologic response criteria based on serial CT images might be useful for predicting total necrosis of TACE-pretreated HCC in LT.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, Samsung Medical Center, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
authors.forename: Sue Jin
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Moon Seok
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Choi
authors.forename: Ja Young
authors.initials: JY
authors.lastname: Kang
authors.forename: Dong Il
authors.initials: DI
authors.lastname: Choi
authors.forename: Cheol Keun
authors.initials: CK
authors.lastname: Park
authors.forename: Geum Youn
authors.initials: GY
authors.lastname: Gwak
authors.forename: Joon Hyoek
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Kwang Cheol
authors.initials: KC
authors.lastname: Koh
authors.forename: Seung Woon
authors.initials: SW
authors.lastname: Paik
authors.forename: Byung Chul
authors.initials: BC
authors.lastname: Yoo