Survival and prognostic factors after adjuvant ¹³¹iodine-labeled lipiodol for hepatocellular carcinoma. A retrospective analysis of 106 patients over 20 years

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) has high recurrence rate after curative treatment. The aim of the present study was to report our experience with adjuvant use of ¹³¹I-lipioclol after curative treatment of HCC in terms of recurrence and survival in a large cohort of patients with a long follow-up. All patients treated with ¹³¹I-lipiodol after curative treatment of HCC in two French centers from 1991 to 2009 were included in a retrospective cohort study. One hundred and six patients were included. The median (range) follow-up was 6 years (0.3-22). Forty-three patients (41%) had cirrhosis. Recurrence-free survival rates at 1, 2, 5, 10, and 20 years were 73, 57, 40, 30, and 14%, respectively. Cirrhosis was an independent predictive factor of recurrence [RR=1.18, 95% CI (1.11-3.02), p = 0.019]. Overall, survival rates at 1, 2, 5, 10, and 20 years were 90, 83, 59, 37, and 23%, respectively. Prognostic factors were recurrence [RR = 2.73, 95% CI (1.35-5.54); p = 0.005], age over 60 years (RR= 1.91, 95% CI [1.02-3.61]; p = 0.044), and tumor number over 3 [RR=3.31, 95% CI (1.25-8.77); p = 0.016]. Our results suggest that the effect of ¹³¹I-lipiodol after curative treatment of HCC could be related to a beneficial impact on risk factors of early tumor recurrence. This could be evaluated in further studies using modern radioembolization methods. (author)