Clinical evaluation of serum alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) and protein induced by vitamin K absence or antagonist-II (PIVKA-II) levels in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma following interventional radiology.

Fourteen patients with unrespectable HCC were treated with various interventional radiology (IVR) procedures. The initial therapeutic response was determined using computed tomography (CT) findings, and determinations of serum alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) and protein induced by Vitamin K absence or antagonist-II (PIVKA-II) levels. When CT studies of the initial response to IVR were compared with changes in the serum AFP and PIVKA-II levels, the AFP level was found to correlate more closely than the PIVKA-II levels. The PIVKA-II level correlated more closely than the AFP level in cases with poor response to IVR. Both of these tumor markers should be measured in combination with the diagnostic imagings for follow-up studies of IVR.