Safety and efficacy of 125I brachytherapy for bilateral lung recurrences from hepatocellular carcinoma after resection or ablation

• DOI: 10.1007/s00432-019-02943-x
• Publication Date: 2019-06-03T14:23:56Z
• Authors: Zhanwang Xiang; Mingjun Bai; Guohong Li; Bihui Zou; Zhihui Zhong; Fei Gao; Chun Wu; Mingsheng Huang; Fujun Zhang
• Keywords: Male; Carcinoma, Hepatocellular; Brachytherapy; Liver Neoplasms; Middle Aged; 3. Good health; Iodine Radioisotopes; 03 medical and health sciences; 0302 clinical medicine; Humans; Female; Retrospective Studies

To evaluate the safety and efficacy of 125I brachytherapy to treat bilateral lung recurrences from hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) after resection or ablation.We retrospectively recruited 95 patients with bilateral lung recurrences from hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) after resection or ablation who had received 3-6-month sorafenib with or without stereotactic body radiotherapy (SBRT), from October 2011 to January 2015; patients were then randomly divided into two groups, 44 patients received computed tomography (CT)-guided 125I brachytherapy (group A), and 51 patients were treated with supportive and symptomatic treatments (group B).The median survival time was 19 months (range of 3-36 months). The local response rate (LRR) at 3, 6, 12, 18, 24, 30 and 36 months in group A was 81.8%, 65.9%, 59.1%, 45.0%, 38.6%, 22.7%, 11.4%, respectively, and 64.7%, 47.1%, 33.3%, 25.4%, 15.7%, 11.7%, 7.8%, respectively, in group B (P < 0.05). The mean progression-free survival time (PFST) and overall survival (OS) of group A were significantly longer than those of group B. Alpha fetoprotein (AFP) and tumor size were independent factors that affected the PFST and OS, normal AFP levels and less than 1-cm tumor diameter had better PFST and OS (P < 0.05). No massive bleeding or serious complications occurred.CT-guided 125I brachytherapy is safe and effective for the treatment of bilateral lung recurrences from HCC after resection or ablation.