Massive necrosis is common in presence of tumor capsule

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.-World Journal of Gastroenterology