Purpose: To evaluate the effect of preoperative iranscatheter arterial chemoembolizalion of hepatoblastoma in infants. Materials and Methods: Clinical data of 21 infants vith hepatoblastoma treated between July 2008 and July 2012 in a single hospital were retrospectively analyzed. After preliminary diagnosis, surgical resection was performed in 9 infants (group I), and transcalheter arterial chemoembolization was performed in 12 infants (group II) before conventional resection. Radiotherapy and chemotherapy regimens such as cisplatin and doxorubicin have proved successful since the 1970s as a pretreatment before surgical resection (9-12). Such regimens have been shown to shrink tumor mass, boost the rate of tumor resection, and increase the 5-year survival rate of infants with a diagnosis of hepatoblastoma to > 75% (13). However, systemic chemotherapy delivered via peripheral intravenous administration is associated with significantly reduced efficacy because the chemotherapeutic agents combine with plasma proteins before reaching the liver. Systemic chemotherapy is also associated with severe adverse effects, including bone marrow suppression and organ toxicity. High-dose chemotherapy also resulted in drug resistance and secondary malignancies (14).
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