Radioembolization in the setting of liver transplantation. Great expectations or hard times?
Trans-arterial radio-embolization (TARE) with yttrium-90
represents one of the most efficacious approaches for the
treatment of selected patients with advanced hepatocellular
cancer (HCC) (1). Recent studies have confirmed the
superiority of TARE when compared with other intraarterial
treatments (2,3). A randomized phase II study
comparing TARE and trans-arterial chemo-embolization
(TACE) in HCC patients meeting Barcelona Clinic
Liver Cancer stages A-B showed a longer median timeto-
progression (>26 vs. 6.8 months; P value =0.001), and
a better tumor control in post-TARE cases (2). Another
study similarly compared TARE and TACE patients
homogeneously selected using a propensity score matching:
also in this case, TARE presented higher overall complete
response rates (84% vs. 58%; P value
median progression-free survivals (564 vs. 271 days;
P value =0.002) (3).