Background: As a bridge to liver transplantation or downstaging therapy for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) patients, preoperative transarterial chemoembolization (TACE) has potential risks in causing damage to hepatic artery (HA), resulting in severe postoperative complications.
Aim: To evaluate the impact of pre-TACE on postoperative hepatic artery complications (HAC) for HCC patients in a single liver transplant center.
Materials and methods: Clinical data of 450 HCC patients undergoing orthotopic liver transplantation (OLT) from January 2001 to December 2013 were retrospectively analyzed. Patients were divided into Group 1 (with pre-TACE) and Group 2 (without pre-TACE). Preoperative characteristics and postoperative HAC were compared.
Results: One hundred and eleven patients (69 men; median age, 37±9.9 years) in Group 1 were compared with 339 patients (244 men; median age, 38.8±8.0 years) in Group 2. Patients were comparable in donor/recipients characteristics between groups. Histological review for native liver samples showed that Edema was the most often seen complication following pre-OLT TACE (troncluar: 87 vs 9; segmental: 91 vs 10; liver parenchyma: 93 vs 8; P=0.000). Fibrosis, thrombosis and aneurysm were only seen in Group 1. There were no significant difference in postoperative HAC (5/111 (4.5%) vs 5/339 (1.5%), P=0.131) between groups.
Conclusion: Our single institution experience showed that it might be safe to perform pre-TACE in HCC patients before OLT. It would not increase postoperative HAC risk.
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