Safety of transarterial chemoembolization as bridging therapy in HCC patients with hyperbilirubinemia on the waiting list for liver transplantation: a centre experience.
OBJECTIVE
Untreated hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) has a notoriously poor prognosis, with a median survival of 1-8 months and a 5-year survival of -3%. Potentially curative surgical therapeutic options include partial hepatic resection with adequate margins and liver transplantation (LT). By current guidelines, transarterial chemoembolization (TACE) is the standard of care for the intermediate stage HCC, namely unresectable, multifocal disease confined to the liver in the absence of portal vein thrombosis and is used as bridging therapy for LT wait-listed candidates with HCC to limit tumour progression and dropout rate. TACE is contraindicated in patients with poor liver reserve with hyperbilirubinemia (bilirubin > or = 2 mg/ dL).


METHODS
In this study, 13 sequential HCC patients waitlisted for LT with total bilirubin level > or = 2 mg/dL, that underwent TACE prior to LT, were included. A mean of 4 TACE sessions were performed in each patient; 10 patients were either child A or B while 3 were in child C class.


RESULTS
The 30-day mortality rate was nil with minimal adverse effects and none of the patients showed procedure related morbidity such as hepatic decompensation. Hyperbilirubinemia did not affect outcomes significantly and tumour response rate was 54.8%. Thus, with careful selection of patients TACE can still be performed even in presence of hyperbilirubinemia thus preventing disease progression while they are waitlisted for LT.
Ashok
A
Thorat
Chen-Fang
CF
Lee
Tsung-Han
TH
Wu
Kun-Ming
KM
Chan
Hong-Shiue
HS
Chou
Wei-Chen
WC
Lee
D000328:Adult; D001663:Bilirubin / Q000097:blood; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000097:blood; D006528:Carcinoma, Hepatocellular / Q000150:complications / Q000628:therapy*; D016461:Chemoembolization, Therapeutic / Q000009:adverse effects; D018450:Disease Progression; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D006932:Hyperbilirubinemia / Q000097:blood / Q000209:etiology*; D008113:Liver Neoplasms / Q000150:complications / Q000628:therapy*; D016031:Liver Transplantation; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D020360:Neoadjuvant Therapy / Q000009:adverse effects; D018579:Patient Selection; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors; D013997:Time Factors; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D014850:Waiting Lists
D015415:Biomarkers; D001663:Bilirubin