Blood Serum VEGF In Primary Hepatic Carcinoma After Transcatheter Arterical Chemoembolization

Objective To study the value of blood serum vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) in primary hepatic carcinoma (PHC) after transcatheter arterial chemoembolization by using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) to detect the change of level of blood serum VEGF.Methods 32 patients of primary hepatic carcinoma were analyzed, male 28 cases, female 4 cases, 15～72 years, mean age 49.53±13.10 years. All cases underwent one time TACE. The early morning fasting ulnar vein blood sample was gathered on the 1st day before TACE and on the 7th day, 30th day after TACE respectively. The VEGF level was detected by using ELISA. One to three months after TACE, all patients had CT,MRI or ultrasonic examinations to observe the condition of tumor. The correlation between the changes of blood serum VEGF level after TACE and PHC imaging and laboratory results was analyzed.Results The level of blood serum VEGF on the 7th day after TACE was higher than that of one day before TACE (P=0.000). The level of the blood serum VEGF on the 30th day after TACE was lower than that of one day before TACE (P=0.000). There was no correlation between the level of the blood serum VEGF and the location, quantity, adventitia of tumor, AFP and liver function in PHC (P≥0.05). But, patients having big tumor volume and metastasis showed higher level of the blood serum VEGF (P<0.05). The level of the blood serum VEGF before TACE had no correlation with the deposit of iodized oil after TACE (P=0.259). The level of blood serum VEGF after TACE was lower in the group that had good deposit of iodized oil than that of the group that had poor deposit of iodized oil (P=0.008). The experiment indicated that the smaller the size of the tumor, the better deposit rate of iodized oil; the bigger the size of the tumor, the poorer the deposit rate of iodized oil (P=0.007). The level of blood serum VEGF of the good curative effect group was lower than that of the bad curative effect group after TACE(P<0.05).Conclusions There was correlation between the size, metastasis, potentialization, deposit rate of iodized oil of tumor and the level of blood serum VEGF in PHC. The level of blood serum VEGF was significantly changed after TACE. The monitoring level of the blood serum VEGF after TACE can contribute to the evaluation of the curative effect of TACE.