Therapy of HCC--TACE for liver tumor.

Nowadays, TACE is routinely performed in a subgroup of patients with hepatocellular carcinoma who are not eligible for surgical resection or percutaneous tumor ablation and who do not preset contraindications to locoregional treatment. When comparing randomized to nonrandomized studies, TACE efficacy upon survival is still controversial in this subgroup despite a 40-50% response rate. Nevertheless, in a pragmatic approach, and as long as other therapies still fail in this subgroup, TACE can be recommended in Okuda I or II patients, the sessions being prolonged after the second one only for the responders who do not present severe side effects.