7 However, whether the findings of improved survival with selective techniques really correspond to an improved necrotizing capability, reduced liver toxicity, or both has never been elucidated on the basis of histological findings in a sufficiently large Western population. The results of studies published in the Asiatic literature suggest that segmental or subsegmental

TACE has been more effective and has resulted in higher rates of tumor necrosis (64%-83%) than proximal/whole liver TACE (approximately 38%) in historical series.8-11 Even though the efficacy of TACE can be reliably assessed only by the measurement of tumor necrosis during a histological examination of the whole tumor, only three of these series8, 10, 11 included surgically removed nodules, and the histological quantification of necrosis EPZ-6438 involved small sample sizes (11, 12,

and 7 lesions, respectively). However, in the Western literature, the advantages of selective embolization have not been well reported because nonselective TACE has been performed even in recent studies.12 Therefore, the primary aim of this study was to analyze whether a difference exists between selective/superselective and lobar TACE in determining tumor necrosis by a pathological Akt cancer analysis of the whole lesion at the time of transplantation. The secondary aim was to investigate the relationship between see more the tumor size and the capacity of TACE to induce necrosis. CEUS, contrast-enhanced

ultrasonography; CT, computed tomography; HCC, hepatocellular carcinoma; LT, liver transplantation; MC, Milan criteria; MRI, magnetic resonance imaging; PEI, percutaneous ethanol injection; TACE, transarterial chemoembolization. Data were extracted from a prospectively collected database for 118 consecutive patients who had a pretransplant diagnosis of HCC resulting from cirrhosis, underwent LT between January 1, 2003 and December 31, 2009 at the Liver and Multiorgan Transplant Unit of Sant’Orsola-Malpighi Hospital, and were treated with bridging or downstaging procedures. The final study population consisted of 67 patients treated only with TACE (performed exclusively at our tertiary care institution), as outlined in Fig. 1 and Table 1, with 53 patients meeting the Milan criteria (MC) and 14 meeting our downstaging protocol.3, 13 Before undergoing TACE, all patients were assessed (1) to define the degree of liver function by laboratory examinations and (2) to detect and characterize all liver nodules by imaging techniques. The Child-Pugh score and the Model for End-Stage Liver Disease score (the latter according to the formula proposed by Freeman et al.14) were calculated. The patients were staged according to the United Network for Organ Sharing guidelines15 and the integrated Barcelona Clinic Liver Cancer staging system.