Radiation Lobectomy With Transarterial Embolization of Yttrium-90 in Hepatocellular Carcinoma

Radiation lobectomy with transarterial embolization of Yttrium-90 (Y-90) may be performed as primary treatment in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), according to a study presented at the Symposium on Clinical Interventional Oncology 2023.

The investigators analyzed published studies on patients who received radiation lobectomy with Y-90 for HCC using the MEDLINE database. They focused on identifying prospective studies, retrospective studies, clinical trials, case series, and comparative studies and excluded case reports, systematic review, meta-analysis, and review articles. Overall, the researchers analyzed 13 studies consisting of 484 patients who had HCC and were treated with Y-90 radioembolization with the intent of radiation lobectomy.

The results showed that approximately 80% of patients had underlying cirrhosis, and more than 66% had Child-Pugh A disease. Moreover, approximately one-third of patients had portal vein thrombosis with involvement of the main portal vein.

“Radiation lobectomy may be performed as primary treatment or as a bridge to surgical resection. However, heterogeneity of the studies in classification of severity of disease, differences in treatment techniques, and time to measurement of hypertrophy limit further analysis to draw conclusions,” the researchers noted.