Background: Although surgical resection and interventional therapy by transarterial chemoembolization are considered therapy of main choice for liver carcinoma (LC), the relatively low percentage of patients who are candidates for this treatment in our country due to economical, technical reasons, and disease status. On the other hand, a number of minimally invasive methods existed, such as percutaneous ethanol injection (PEI), percutaneous acetic acid injection (PAI), and radiorequerency (RF) have been developed as alternatives to surgical resection for LC in some countries.
Aim: This abstract mainly discusses safety of treatment for LC by PAI..
Methods: A total of 171 treatment sessions in 57 consecutive patients, including 29 primary hepatic carcinomas, and 28 second liver cancers metastazied from gastrointestinal track (diameter range, 1.5 –13 cm) undergoing PAI were prospectively studied. 0.5 – 13 mL of 50% acetic acid was injected into the center of the nodule under ultrasound guidance. Complications were recorded and analyzed.
Results: Complete or partial necrosis with or without some cavernous seen on the CT image and/or ultrasound in all tumor masses given of acetic acid. The most common side effect is transient pain from minor to severity and happened in 53 patients (93.0%), and among them 4 patients (7.8%) having to stop continous administration of acetic acid and moreover could not be tolerated even after additional injection of analgesic due to severe pain with upper abdominal discomfort. Fever (>37°C to 39°C) was another common side effect after PAI, occurring in 25 patients (43.9%), and generally returning to normal within 3–5 days, and high fever (>39°C) occurred and lasted about a week in 3 patients (5.9%) with large-sized tumor and a higher injection volume of acetic acid (8 - 11 mL).
Conclusions: PAI is a less invasive local therapy for LC and there hasno complication requiring special treatment.