Postoperative recurrence of hepatocellular carcinoma: results of transcatheter arterial chemoembolization.

A retrospective analysis was made of the effect of transcatheter arterial chemoembolization (TACE) in 87 patients with recurrent hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). In contrast to the predominantly single nodular HCC (60.2%) on preoperative angiography, recurrent HCC showed a multinodular pattern in 54.2%. Preoperative TACE had significantly prolonged the interval between surgery and recurrence. One- and 2-year survival rates after TACE of the 87 recurrent HCCs were 74.7% and 55.%, respectively, which were not significantly different from those of a control group of 206 patients with HCC in Child's class A, who were treated with TACE only. We believe that TACE is an effective measure in the management of preoperative and recurrent HCC.