title: Patients with unresectable hepatocellular carcinoma beyond Milan criteria: should we perform transarterial chemoembolization or liver transplantation?
abstract: Patients with unresectable, beyond Milan criteria, hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) invariably undergo palliative transarterial chemoembolization (TACE). The aim of this study was to compare the outcomes of conventional TACE versus liver transplantation (LT) in unresectable (beyond Milan criteria) HCC. Twelve patients underwent LT and 86 TACE for unresectable, beyond Milan criteria HCC. The inclusion criteria were a single tumor<or=6.5 cm or <or=5 tumors and all tumors<or=5 cm based on initial radiologic findings. We excluded patients with double primary cancers, age>60 years, vascular invasion, or extrahepatic spread. Survival rates were calculated using the Kaplan-Meier method. Multivariate analysis showed that TACE was a prognostic factor for survival (hazard ratio, 16.66, P=.000). The LT group showed significantly better survival than the TACE cohort. Two cases (16.7%) in the LT group recurred at a median time of 13.5 months. Survival rates at 1, 3, and 5 years were 100%, 88.9%, and 76.2% in the LT group, and 85.6%, 45.6%, and 21.4% in the TACE group, respectively. Patients with unresectable, beyond Milan criteria HCC should be given the option to receive LDLT, because LT offers a significantly better likelihood of survival than TACE.
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, Samsung Medical Center, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
authors.forename: J M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: C H D
authors.initials: CH
authors.lastname: Kwon
authors.forename: J-W
authors.initials: JW
authors.lastname: Joh
authors.forename: S J
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Shin
authors.forename: E Y
authors.initials: EY
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: J I
authors.initials: JI
authors.lastname: Moon
authors.forename: G O
authors.initials: GO
authors.lastname: Jung
authors.forename: G-S
authors.initials: GS
authors.lastname: Choi
authors.forename: S-K
authors.initials: SK
authors.lastname: Lee
mesh_terms: D000410:Alanine Transaminase / Q000097:blood; D001219:Aspartate Aminotransferases / Q000097:blood; D001806:Blood Urea Nitrogen; D006528:Carcinoma, Hepatocellular / Q000097:blood / Q000601:surgery / Q000628:therapy*; D016461:Chemoembolization, Therapeutic / Q000379:methods* / Q000401:mortality; D005260:Female; D006400:Hematocrit; D006801:Humans; D019934:International Normalized Ratio; D008113:Liver Neoplasms / Q000097:blood / Q000601:surgery / Q000628:therapy*; D016031:Liver Transplantation / Q000379:methods* / Q000401:mortality; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D018579:Patient Selection; D010976:Platelet Count; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D015996:Survival Rate; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D000509:alpha-Fetoproteins / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D000509:alpha-Fetoproteins; D001219:Aspartate Aminotransferases; D000410:Alanine Transaminase