Interventional treatments for hepatocellular carcinoma

BACKGROUND: Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is one of the most frequent primary malignant tumors in the world. Hepatic resection and liver transplantation are considered optimal for potential treatment of HCC. However, only 20% of HCCs can be surgically treated. And most of surgically-noneligible patients have to receive interventional managements including local ablation and transarterial chemoembolization (TACE). In this paper, we review the interventional treatments of HCC. DATA SOURCES: A literature search of PubMed database was conducted and research articles were reviewed. RESULTS: Percutaneous ethanol injection (PEI) is usually applied to small HCC for a complete necrosis. Radiofrequency ablation, an alternative to PEI, also causes tumor necrosis and needs fewer times of ablation. Other methods such as acetic acid injection, laser, microwave, etc have enriched local ablation for HCC. High intensity focus ultrasound (HIFU) is thought to be promising. TACE, another common modality, can improve the survival rate of patients with HCC. The newly developed embolic agents and adjuvant rAd-p53 gene therapy are well reported. CONCLUSIONS: Surgically-noneligible HCC can be treated with interventional procedures. Each method has its advantages and disadvantages. However, it is still pressing to develop ablative methods as well as new embolic agents for a better prognosis of HCC.