الفهرس 
IntroductionOnly 14 pages are availabe for public view
 |  | from | 84 |  |  |
| | | from | 84 | | |
Abstract
Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the most common primary hepatic malignancy of adults. It is the sixth most common cancer worldwide and the third most common cause of cancer death(1) . Notably, the incidence of HCC (626,000 cases/ year worldwide) nearly matches its mortality (598,000 deaths/year worldwide), underling its poor prognosis. Therapeutic options are in fact limited by the residual liver function and tumor extension death(2).
In Egypt, liver cancer forms 11.75% of the malignancies of all digestive organs and 1.68% of the total malignancies. HCC constitutes 70.48% of all liver tumors among Egyptians(3).
Surgical resection can be a curative treatment for HCC. However, this cancer is usually associated with liver cirrhosis or chronic hepatitis, so most patients with HCC are not candidates for surgical resection owing to the poor hepatic reserve(4).
When surgical options are precluded, image-guided tumor ablation is recommended as the most appropriate therapeutic choice and is considered a potentially curative treatment in properly selected candidates. Image-guided tumor ablation with both thermal and non thermal sources has received substantial attention for the treatment of many focal malignancies. The main advantages of image-guided tumor ablation include low morbidity and mortality rates, effective tumor ablation, and preservation of maximal normal liver parenchyma. This is particularly important for patients with limited liver reserve as a result of chronic liver disease(5).
One of the established treatment procedures performed worldwide for HCC, along with other therapeutic techniques such as surgical resection and percutaneous treatment options, is transcatheter arterial chemoembolization (TACE). It has many advantages such as less invasiveness, the ability