Purpose: To investigate the efficacy and safety of CT-guided ¹²⁵I brachytherapy in the treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) refractory to conventional transarterial chemoembolization (TACE).
Methods: Nineteen patients with TACE-refractory HCC treated with CT-guided ¹²⁵I brachytherapy between June 2017 and June 2020 at Jiangyin People’s Hospital were enrolled in this study. In addition, we used the modified Response Evaluation Criteria in Solid Tumors (mRECIST) criteria to evaluate the treatment response after ¹²⁵I brachytherapy.
Results: Twenty-one tumours were treated with CT-guided ¹²⁵I brachytherapy in nineteen patients. Twelve tumours (57.1%) showed a complete response, and a partial response was observed in seven tumours (33.3%). The six-month objective response rate was 90.5% (19/21). The adverse effects of CT-guided ¹²⁵I brachytherapy were tolerable.
Conclusion: Our preliminary clinical experience demonstrated that CT-guided ¹²⁵I brachytherapy was effective and well tolerated for the treatment of TACE-refractory HCC, suggesting that CT-guided ¹²⁵I brachytherapy has the potential to become an effective alternative treatment for TACE-refractory HCC.
Keywords: ¹²⁵I brachytherapy, TACE, refractory, hepatocellular carcinoma