Radio-embolization for hepatocellular carcinoma

Hepatocellular carcinoma is now a major public health concern. In intermediate stages (one third of hepatocellular carcinoma patients), chemo-embolization is the standard of care despite a poor tolerance and a moderate efficacy. Moreover, despite recent improvements, this technique seems in a dead end. Radio-embolization could be an excellent tool for such patients. Currently 131I-Lipiodol, 188Re-Lipiodol, 90Y-glass or resin microspheres are available. More recent and promising data come from microspheres, but phase II and III studies are needed before drawing any conclusion. In the future, the combination of radio-embolization with systemic chemotherapy or targeted agents (particularly anti-angiogenic drugs) seems very promising. (authors)