Comparative study on the effects of hepatic arterial embolization with Bletilla striata or Gelfoam in treatment of primary hepatic carcinoma

Table 1 General conditions and methods of treatment

Subjects	GF group	BS group
Number	50	56
Clinical stage; cases (%)
I	3 (6.0)	4 (7.1)
II	42 (84.0)	46 (82.2)
III	5 (10.0)	6 (10.7)
Pathologic type; cases (%)
Massive	38 (76.0)	43 (76.8)
Multinodular	12 (24.0)	13 (23.2)
Proximal angioembolus	GF powders	BS powders
Total number of treatments	203	151
Mean number of treatments	4.06	2.7
Mean intermission between treatments (mo)	3-6	6-12

Table 2 Survival rates and survival times for patients in the two groups (Life-table method: U-test

Group	n	Survival rates (%)				Mean survival time (mo)
		6 m	12 m	24 m	36 m
BS	56	92.9	81.9	44.9	33.6	19.8
GF	50	80.0a	48.9b	31.1c	16.0d	15.7

^aP > 0.05; ^{b, d}P < 0.01;

^cP < 0.05.