Effect of the combination treatment of high-intensity focused ultrasound and cryocare knife in advanced liver cancer.

PURPOSE

To analyze the effect of the combination treatment of high-intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) and cryocare knife in advanced liver cancer.

METHODS

74 patients with advanced liver cancer were divided into the observation group (40 cases) and the control group (34 cases). Patients in the control group were treated with simple transcatheter arterial chemoembolization (TACE), while those in the observation group were given the combination treatment of HIFU and cryocare knife. Therapeutic effects were compared.

RESULTS

The total effective rate of the observation group was significantly higher than that of the control group (p<0.05). After treatment, both groups showed decreased level of AFP and increased level of ALT. Besides, the observation group had significantly lower levels of AFP and ALT than the control group (p<0.05). Comparison of albumin levels before and after treatment revealed no difference between groups. After treatment, both groups showed increased percents of CD3+ and CD4+ T lymphocytes and natural killer (NK) cells with the observation group having obviously higher percents than the control group (p<0.05). After treatment, CD8+ T lymphocyte of the observation group reduced, while that of the control group increased (p<0.05). After treatment, both groups showed decreased levels of hyaluronic acid (HA), laminin (LN), collagen (IV-C) an III procollagen (PCIII), and the levels of the observation group were obviously lower than those of the control group (p<0.05). Both groups were followed with a median follow-up time of 25.0 months. The observation group had significantly more prolonged median survival time, decreased reccurrence rate and improved survival rate (p<0.05).

CONCLUSION

The combination treatment of HIFU and cryocare knife can improve the short and long-term treatment outcome of advanced liver cancer.