Studies on the chemotherapy with 5-fluorouracil in transcatheter arterial chemoembolization (TAE) treated patients with resectable or non-resectable hepatocellular carcinoma. Osaka Study Group on Hepatocellular Carcinoma.

In a prospective clinical trial, 65 patients were studied in an investigation into the effects of the oral administration of 5-fluorouracil on resectable and non-resectable hepatocellular carcinoma. All patients had received initial treatment in the form of transcatheter arterial chemoembolization with adriamycin. No significant effect on the survival periods was demonstrated either in patients with resectable carcinoma or in those with non-resectable carcinoma, even though the survival rates were too high to reach an accurate conclusion (the lowest survival rate was 80%, 12/15, obtained in non-resectable carcinoma patients without 5-fluorouracil administration). 5-Fluorouracil administration did not significantly prolong the interval before recurrence in patients with resectable carcinoma (P = 0.139). However, its favorable effect on the interval up to disease progression was noted in patients with non-resectable carcinoma when a log-rank test was used to carry out a statistical analysis (P = 0.049), though it was not demonstrated by the Wilcoxon test (P = 0.102). Thus, adjuvant chemotherapy with 5-fluorouracil seems to have potential in the palliative effects of transcatheter arterial chemoembolization on non-resectable hepatocellular carcinoma, but further studies are necessary before a final conclusion can be reached.