Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the fifth most common cancer worldwide. Prognosis of patients with HCC complicating cirrhosis mainly depends on the tumor growth, progression of the underlying liver disease and the effectiveness of antitumoral treatment. Trans-catheter treatment is extensively used to treat HCC not suitable for surgical resection or percutaneous ablation therapies. Unfortunately, the tumor response after trans-catheter treatment is heterogeneous, with a wide range of necrosis that cannot be accurately predicted.
A study, published on the issue 45 of World Journal of Gastroenterology, led by Dr. Roberto Miraglia from the Mediterranean Institute for Transplantation and Advanced Specialized Therapies, evaluated the pre-treatment imaging and clinical variables of two hundred cirrhotic patients with HCC underwent trans-catheter treatment. The research showed that massive necrosis after trans-catheter treatment is more common in the presence of tumor capsule, with a maximum diameter of the main lesion between 2 - 6 cm, CLIP score < 2 and the absence of constitutional syndrome. The ability to predict which patients could respond to trans-catheter treatment could be useful in clinical decision making and to stratify patient randomization in therapeutic clinical trials.
Reference: Miraglia R, Pietrosi G, Maruzzelli L, Petridis I, Caruso S, Marrone G, Mamone G, Vizzini G, Luca A, Gridelli B. Predictive factors of tumor response to the trans-catheter treatment in cirrhotic patients with HCC: a multivariate analysis of pre-treatment findings. World Journal of Gastroenterology 2007; 13(45): 6022-6026
http://www.wjgnet.com/1007-9327/13/6022.asp
Correspondence to: Dr. Roberto Miraglia, Department of Diagnostic and Interventional Radiology, Mediterranean Institute for Transplantation and Advanced Specialized Therapies (ISMETT), Via Tricomi 1, 90127, Palermo, Italy. rmiraglia@ismett.edu
Tel 39-091-2192111; Fax 39-091-2192344.
About World Journal of Gastroenterology
World Journal of Gastroenterology (WJG), a leading international journal in gastroenterology and hepatology, has established a reputation for publishing first class research on esophageal cancer, gastric cancer, liver cancer, viral hepatitis, colorectal cancer, and H pylori infection for providing a forum for both clinicians and scientists. WJG has been indexed and abstracted in Current Contents/Clinical Medicine, Science Citation Index Expanded (also known as SciSearch) and Journal Citation Reports/Science Edition, Index Medicus, MEDLINE and PubMed, Chemical Abstracts, EMBASE/Excerpta Medica, Abstracts Journals, Nature Clinical Practice Gastroenterology and Hepatology, CAB Abstracts and Global Health. ISI JCR 2003-2000 IF: 3.318, 2.532, 1.445 and 0.993. WJG is a weekly journal published by The WJG Press. The publication dates are the 7th, 14th, 21st, and 28th day of every month. The WJG is supported by The National Natural Science Foundation of China, No. 30224801 and No. 30424812, and was founded with the name of China National Journal of New Gastroenterology on October 1, 1995, and renamed WJG on January 25, 1998.
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World Journal of Gastroenterology