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Objective: Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) deaths are rising alarmingly. Many patients are unsuitable for available therapies. Poor response rates further hamper outcomes for those that are. Selective internal radiation therapy (SIRT) offers hope, although which patients benefit over standard approaches remains unclear., Design/method: As a quality/service improvement, we audited consecutive patients treated with SIRT (2015-2020) by the Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals National Health Service Foundation Trust HCC multidisciplinary team. Indications, Barcelona clinic liver cancer (BCLC) stage, treatment response, subsequent therapies and survival at 30 September 2021 were assessed., Results: Fifty-one patients received SIRT. Thirty-day mortality was zero. Three months partial response, stable disease and progressive disease on imaging were 50%, 22% and 28%, respectively. Overall median survival was 21 months. There were four subgroups: (1) BCLC-B: HCC>7 cm too large for transarterial chemoembolisation (TACE) alone (n=21); (2) BCLC-B: HCC progressed post TACE (n=7); (3) BCLC-C: HCC with any combination of large tumour burden, branch portal vein thrombosis, non-hepatitis C virus aetiology (n=16); (4) BCLC-C: sorafenib inappropriate (n=7). In group 1, 5/21 (23.8%) of patients were downstaged to resection, 33% received subsequent medical therapies and median survival was >40 months. In BCLC-B patients treated second line (group 2), median survival was 14.2 months. In BCLC-C, median survival was 20.2 months for group 3 and 4.2 months for group 4., Conclusion: SIRT outcomes for advanced HCC, often bridging patients with adverse predictive factors to subsequent surgery or medical therapies, were encouraging. A role after TACE or for BCLC-C patients requires further assessment., Competing Interests: Competing interests: HLR is a member of the European Association for Study of Liver Disease (EASL) education committee, the HCC-UK Committee, the NCRI hepatobiliary subgroup and the Patient Advocacy group for the International Association for Liver cancer (ILCA). She is an expert advisor to the LiverNorth patient Charity and the British Liver Trust and has acted as an expert advisor to NICE Committee Multiple Technology Appraisal (MTA) assessing selective internal radiation therapies (SIRT) for treating hepatocellular carcinoma (ID1276). On behalf of Newcastle University, she has acted as an advisor to Boston Scientific UK and SIRTEX. JR is a member of the British Society of Interventional Radiology Education Committee. GP is a member of the British Society of Interventional Radiology Scientific Program Committee. DMM is the medical director for NHS British Transplant, council member for British Transplant Society, secretary for Cholangiocarcinoma-UK, member of the Transplant Oncology Group and trustee for British Association for Cancer Surgery (BASO). He has been on advisory boards for Boston Scientific UK and SIRTEX. PL is the secretary for Interventional Oncology UK (IOUK) and the Chair for the British Society of Interventional Radiology Scientific Programme Committee. He has received honoraria for lectures from Boston Scientific UK, Sirtex and Johnson and Johnson. He has participated in advisory boards for Boston Scientific UK, Guerbet and Johnson and Johnson., (© Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2023. Re-use permitted under CC BY. Published by BMJ.)

Aims: To evaluate early outcomes of patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) treated with a novel radiopaque bead, the 75-150 μm DC Bead LUMI™ (Biocompatibles UK Ltd)., Materials and Methods: This was a retrospective review of the first 40 consecutive patients at a UK tertiary hepato-biliary centre, treated for HCC with TACE using radiopaque beads, between May 2017 and March 2019. Information regarding complications, mortality, lesion response and subsequent ablation procedures was collected from electronic records and case notes. Intra- and post-operative imaging was reviewed for visibility of the embolised territory., Results: Fifty-five TACE procedures were performed in 40 patients, with a median age of 70 years (range 28-88) and median lesion size of 3.8 cm (range 1.5-7.8). The median follow-up period was 30 weeks (range 6-101). Mean post-procedure hospital stay was 1.2 days. Complications of CIRSE Grade II or above occurred after 4/55 procedures (7.3%). Mortality at 30 days was zero. Objective response rates (mRECIST) at 1, 3 and 6 months were 32/35 (91.4%), 21/24 (87.5%) and 12/15 (80%), respectively. Complete response rates at 1, 3 and 6 months were 16/35 (45.7%), 12/24 (50%) and 9/15 (60%). The embolised territory was visible on intra-operative and follow-up CT imaging in all patients. The radiopaque beads were used as a fiducial marker to guide ablation in 5/40 patients (12.5%)., Conclusion: TACE with radiopaque beads shows promising tolerability and efficacy. The radiopaque beads ensure visualisation of the embolised lesion on intra- and post-operative imaging and, in selected cases, can act as a marker for CT-guided ablation.

We report a 58-year-old man who had a multi-lobulated pseudomyxomatous lesion in his ascending aorta 6 months after his root and ascending aorta was replaced by a Dacron graft., (Copyright © 2011 The Society of Thoracic Surgeons. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)