Figure 1

Efficacy of cryoablation therapy for advanced hepatocellular carcinoma. A: a complete response in a 50-year-old man survived for over 24 months after cryoablation. MRI scan showed a huge mass (M) at the dome of the left hepatic lobe (a: T2 weighted image; b: arterial phase). Long black arrow(b)indicated portal vein thrombosis (c: portal phase) with histopathological confirmation of HCC embolus, and Edmondson classification of intermediate differentiation. Ten months after two cryoablation therapies, 60% reduction was achieved from the baseline tumor burden, also associated with the decrease of the non-treated adjacent tumor (d). Long white arrow indicated the treated tumor was necrotic (e). Short black arrow indicated portal vein tumor thrombus was almost invisible after cryoablation (f). B: Kaplan-Meier survival curves are shown for 120 advanced patients treated with cryotherapy and the median TTP for the whole cohort was 5.5 months (95% CI 4.2 –6.7 months). C: Kaplan-Meier estimates of median overall survival for advanced patients treated with cryotherapy was 10.5 months (95% CI 9.0–12.0 months).