Influence of Hepatic Arterial Chemoembolization on Glucose Tolerance in Patients with Hepatocellular Carcinoma

Lee, Min Ho; Seo, Heung Suk

Abstract

BACKGROUND/AIMS: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the influence of transcatheter arterial chemoembolization (TAE) on glucose tolerance (GT#) in the patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).
METHODS
One hundred and ten patients with hepatocellular carcinoma were involved in this study: thirty non-diabetics without chronic liver disease (control group), thirty non-diabetics with chronic liver disease (CLD group), and fifty diabetics (diabetic group). GT tests were performed for the three groups before and after TAE using lipiodol and anticancer drugs alone or together with following gelfoam. Then, we evaluated changes of GT after oral glucose loading, changes of fasting blood glucose (FBG) related to the degree of diabetes and embolic materials, and the relation between FBG and ALT value.
RESULTS
GT after TAE was significantly impaired from 60 to 120 minutes in the CLD group (p<0.05), and from 30 to 180 minutes in the diabetic group (p<0.01). FBG level had a tendency to elevate as the degree of diabetes mellitus advanced, but had no relation with the difference of embolic materials. There was no significant relationship between ALT value and FBG.
CONCLUSIONS
TAE for HCC sometimes causes significant impairment of GT, especilly in the advanced diabetics. Thus, before and after TAE, careful management of diabetes is required for improvement of the prognosis.