Survival and prognostic factors after adjuvant ¹³¹iodine-labeled lipiodol for hepatocellular carcinoma: a retrospective analysis of 106 patients over 20 years

Objective: Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) has high recurrence rate after curative treatment. The aim of the present study was to report our experience with adjuvant use of ¹³¹I-lipiodol after curative treatment of HCC in terms of recurrence and survival in a large cohort of patients with a long follow-up. Methods: All patients treated with ¹³¹I-lipiodol after curative treatment of HCC in two French centers from 1991 to 2009 were included in a retrospective cohort study. Results: One hundred and six patients were included. The median (range) follow-up was 6 years (0.3–22). Forty-three patients (41%) had cirrhosis. Recurrence-free survival rates at 1, 2, 5, 10, and 20 years were 73, 57, 40, 30, and 14%, respectively. Cirrhosis was an independent predictive factor of recurrence [RR = 1.18, 95% CI (1.11–3.02), p = 0.019]. Overall, survival rates at 1, 2, 5, 10, and 20 years were 90, 83, 59, 37, and 23%, respectively. Prognostic factors were recurrence [RR = 2.73, 95% CI (1.35–5.54); p = 0.005], age over 60 years (RR = 1.91, 95% CI [1.02–3.61]; p = 0.044), and tumor number over 3 [RR = 3.31, 95% CI (1.25–8.77); p = 0.016]. Conclusion: Our results suggest that the effect of ¹³¹I-lipiodol after curative treatment of HCC could be related to a beneficial impact on risk factors of early tumor recurrence. This could be evaluated in further studies using modern radioembolization methods.