Therapeutic results of computed-tomography-guided transcatheter arterial chemoembolization for local recurrence of hepatocellular carcinoma after initial transcatheter arterial chemoembolization: the results of 85 recurrent tumors in 35 patients.

The aim of this study was to retrospectively evaluate the long-term results of transcatheter arterial chemoembolization (TACE) for the treatment of local recurrence of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) after the first TACE. Between September 1992 and October 2004, 85 recurrent HCC nodules of 35 patients were treated by TACE. During the median follow-up period of 15.5 months (range 1.9-58.6 months), 58 of the 85 treated tumors developed local recurrence again after the second TACE. The overall 6-, 12-, and 36-month recurrence-free rates of these tumors after the second TACE were 47.0%, 36.2%, and 25.8%, respectively. Local recurrence of HCC after the first TACE was treated by a second TACE with equivalent efficacy as that of the initial TACE, if segmental chemoembolization was achieved. We regard TACE as the treatment of choice for the management of local recurrence of HCC.