Long-term survival of Taiwanese patients with hepatocellular carcinoma after combination therapy with transcatheter arterial chemoembolization and percutaneous ethanol injection.

Background And Purpose: Several studies have shown a superior effect of combination therapy with transcatheter arterial chemoembolization (TACE) and percutaneous ethanol injection (PEI) compared with either monotherapy for the treatment of advanced hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), but there have been no reports on combination treatment from Taiwan. This study investigated the long-term survival and prognostic factors of HCC patients treated with TACE/PEI combination therapy.

Methods: A total of 153 consecutive HCC patients, with tumor sizes between 2 and 3 cm in 47 patients, between 3 and 5 cm in 66 patients, and between 5 and 13 cm in 40 patients, who received TACE/PEI combination therapy were included in this retrospective study.