Citations
Citations
Citations
Citations
Rare Site Hepatocellular Carcinoma Metastasis
Transarterial chemoembolization (TACE) using doxorubicin-eluting beads (DEBs) have been introduced as a novel device which ensures more sustained and tumor-selective drug delivery and permanent embolization compared to conventional TACE with lipiodol. Studies highlighting the use of TACE with DEBs for the treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) have shown similar or better results compared to conventional TACE with lipiodol. TACE with DEBs is increasingly being performed interchangeably with conventional TACE. This review assessed the characteristics, clinical outcomes and future direction of TACE with DEBs compared to conventional TACE.
Citations
Despite advances in the treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), managing HCC with portal vein thrombosis (PVT) remains challenging. PVT is present in 10-40% of HCC cases at the time of diagnosis and its therapeutic options are very limited. Current guidelines mainly recommend sorafenib for advanced HCC with PVT, but surgery, transarterial chemoemolization, external radiation therapy, radioembolization, transarterial infusion chemotherapy, and combination therapy are also still used. Furthermore, several new emerging therapies such as the administration of immunotherapeutic agents and oncolytic viruses are under investigation. This comprehensive literature review presents current and future management options with their relative advantages and disadvantages and summary data on overall survival.
Citations
Citations
Carnitine and vitamin complex (Godex®) is widely used in patients with chronic liver disease who show elevated liver enzyme in South Korea. The purpose of this study is to identify the efficacy and safety of carnitine from entecavir combination therapy in Alanine aminotransferase (ALT) elevated Chronic Hepatitis B (CHB) patients.
130 treatment-naïve patients with CHB were enrolled from 13 sites. The patients were randomly selected to the entecavir and the complex of entecavir and carnitine. The primary endpoint of the study is ALT normalization level after 12 months.
Among the 130 patients, 119 patients completed the study treatment. The ALT normalization at 3 months was 58.9% for the monotherapy and 95.2% for the combination therapy (
ALT normalization rate was higher in carnitine complex combination group than entecavir group in CHB. Combination group was faster than entecavir mono-treatment group on ALT normalization rate. HBV DNA normalization rate and the serum HBV-DNA level were not changed by carnitine complex treatment.
Citations
The application of ultrasound contrast agents (UCAs) is considered essential when evaluating focal liver lesions (FLLs) using ultrasonography (US). Microbubble UCAs are easy to use and robust; their use poses no risk of nephrotoxicity and requires no ionizing radiation. The unique features of contrast enhanced US (CEUS) are not only noninvasiveness but also real-time assessing of liver perfusion throughout the vascular phases. The later feature has led to dramatic improvement in the diagnostic accuracy of US for detection and characterization of FLLs as well as the guidance to therapeutic procedures and evaluation of response to treatment. This article describes the current consensus and guidelines for the use of UCAs for the FLLs that are commonly encountered in US. After a brief description of the bases of different CEUS techniques, contrast-enhancement patterns of different types of benign and malignant FLLs and other clinical applications are described and discussed on the basis of our experience and the literature data.
Citations