Background and purpose:Hepatocellular carcinoma(HCC) is one of the most common malignancies in the world,It has a poor prognosis due to its rapid infiltrating growth and complicating liver cirrhosis.Surgical resection is considered the best curative option,the 5-year survival rate could reach 50%,especially in the patients with lesions less than 5 cm in diameter and good residual liver function.However curative surgery is feasible for only about 20% of patients.Transcatheter arterial chemoembolization(TACE) has been demonstrated that its short-term curative effect is better than the other nonsurgical treatments.However,it has not provided any survival benefit.Many studies have been done to improve the overall therapeutic effects of HCC with multi-modality approaches.The purpose of our trial was to evaluate the effects of TACE combined with 3-dimensional conformal radiation therapy(3-DCRT) for primary hepatic carcinoma.Methods:90 patients with primary hepatic carcinoma were randomly divided into two groups :45 were treated with 3-DCRT plus TACE and the others were treated with TACE alone.For TACE,80-120 mg cisplatin and 1 000 mg 5-Fluorouracil or 30 mg hydroxycamptothecine)were perfused into the hepatic arteries,then 50-100 mg adriamycin(or epirubicin) or 16 mg mitomycin C and iodized oil 10-30 ml were given to embolize the hepatic arteries,and followed by 1-2 mm gel form particles.TACE of 1-3 sessions was given to both groups.For the combined group,3-DCRT was given by 6MV X-ray.The patients with planned target volume(PTV) lesser than 512 cm~(3) received a total dose of 45-56 Gy,4.5-7 Gy per fraction,and the patients with PTV larger than 512 cm~(3) received a total dose of 45-56 Gy,2.5-4.5 Gy per fraction,5 times every week.Results:The response rates (CR+PR)of 3-DCRT plus TACE group and TACE alone group were 91.1% and 60%,respectively(?~(2)=11.79,P