Loading...
Liver-directed hepatic artery embolization is a care standard in hepatocellular cancer (HCC) and is usually administered with chemotherapy. However, the contribution of chemotherapy has not been clearly demonstrated.
To examine this issue, investigators report the results of a prospective, single-institution, randomized phase II trial involving 101 HCC patients with either limited or no extrahepatic disease. Patients underwent hepatic artery embolization using microspheres alone or microspheres loaded with doxorubicin. Most patients were male (73%–82%), nearly half had hepatitis B- or C-related liver disease (44%–46%), most had Child's Pugh A liver disease (80%–90%), and nearly all had good performance status. The primary endpoint was respon…