Influence of preoperative transcatheter arterial chemoembolization on survival rate for resectable hepatocellular carcinoma

Objective: To study the influence of preoperative transcatheter arterial chemoembolization (TACE) by selection on survival rate of resectable hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) patients. Methods: Jan. 1996 to Jan. 1997, TACE was performed before surgery in 62 of 126 patients undergoing resection and the other 64 patients without TACE from. Results were retrospectively analyzed with regard to the changes of pathological examination after operation, recurrence rate and survival rate 1, 2, 3 years after operation. Results: Pathological examination showed that there were 13 total necrosis in TACE group, but no one in contrast group. There were no significant difference of recurrence rate 1, 3 years after operation between 2 groups. Recurrence rate 2 years after operation was 29.8% in TACE group, but 58.3% in contrast group. There were significant difference of recurrence rate 2 years after operation between 2 groups ( P 0.05). Survival rate 3 years after operation was 54.4% in TACE group, but 33.3% in contrast group. Survival rate of TACE group was higher than that of contrast group ( P 0.05). There were not significant difference of recurrence rate 1, 2 years after operation between 2 groups. Conclusion: Proper preoperative TACE for resectable HCC can improve the outcome of the operation to some extent.