Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2011 Jul 14;17(26):3126-32.
doi: 10.3748/wjg.v17.i26.3126.

Ethanol injection is highly effective for hepatocellular carcinoma smaller than 2 cm

Maurizio Pompili  1 , Erica Nicolardi, Valeria Abbate, Luca Miele, Laura Riccardi, Marcello Covino, Nicoletta De Matthaeis, Antonio Grieco, Raffaele Landolfi, Gian Ludovico Rapaccini
Affiliations

Ethanol injection is highly effective for hepatocellular carcinoma smaller than 2 cm

Maurizio Pompili et al. World J Gastroenterol. .

Abstract

Aim: To analyze the long-term prognosis in a cohort of western cirrhotic patients with single hepatocellular carcinoma treated with ethanol injection.

Methods: One-hundred forty-eight patients with solitary hepatocellular carcinoma were enrolled. The tumor diameter was lower than 2 cm in 47 patients but larger in the remaining 101 patients. The impact of some pre-treatment clinical and laboratory parameters and of tumor recurrence on patients' survival was assessed.

Results: Among the pre-treatment parameters, only a tumor diameter of less than 2 cm was an independent prognostic factor of survival. The occurrence of new nodules in other liver segments and the neoplastic portal invasion were linked to a poorer prognosis at univariate analysis. Patients with a single hepatocellular carcinoma smaller than 2 cm showed a better 5-year cumulative survival (73.0% vs 47.9%) (P = 0.009), 3-year local recurrence rate (29.1% vs 51.5%) (P = 0.011), and 5-year distant intrahepatic recurrence rate (52.9% vs 62.8%) (P = 0.054) compared to patients with a larger tumor.

Conclusion: The 5-year survival rate of patients with single hepatocellular carcinoma < 2 cm undergoing ethanol injection is excellent and comparable to that achieved using radiofrequency ablation.

Keywords: Cirrhosis; Hepatocellular carcinoma; Percutaneous ethanol injection; Prognosis.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Comparison between cumulative survival rates in 47 patients with solitary hepatocellular carcinoma < 2 cm (dotted line) and 101 patients with solitary hepatocellular carcinoma > 2 cm (continuous line). HCC: Hepatocellular carcinoma.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Jemal A, Murray T, Ward E, Samuels A, Tiwari RC, Ghafoor A, Feuer EJ, Thun MJ. Cancer statistics, 2005. CA Cancer J Clin. 2005;55:10–30. - PubMed
    1. El-Serag HB, Mason AC. Rising incidence of hepatocellular carcinoma in the United States. N Engl J Med. 1999;340:745–750. - PubMed
    1. Sangiovanni A, Prati GM, Fasani P, Ronchi G, Romeo R, Manini M, Del Ninno E, Morabito A, Colombo M. The natural history of compensated cirrhosis due to hepatitis C virus: A 17-year cohort study of 214 patients. Hepatology. 2006;43:1303–1310. - PubMed
    1. Sangiovanni A, Del Ninno E, Fasani P, De Fazio C, Ronchi G, Romeo R, Morabito A, De Franchis R, Colombo M. Increased survival of cirrhotic patients with a hepatocellular carcinoma detected during surveillance. Gastroenterology. 2004;126:1005–1014. - PubMed
    1. Llovet JM, Burroughs A, Bruix J. Hepatocellular carcinoma. Lancet. 2003;362:1907–1917. - PubMed

MeSH terms