Copyright: ©Author(s) 2026. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license. No commercial re-use. See permissions. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc.
Portal vein embolization for arterio-portal shunt closure in hepatocellular carcinoma to facilitate selective internal radiation therapy
Xue Liu, Zhen-Yuan Xu, Shu-Qun Shen, Zhi-Jia Xu, Ye-Fa Yang, Nai-Jian Ge, Xiang-Dong Wang, Department of Interventional Radiology, Shanghai Eastern Hepatobiliary Surgery Hospital, Shanghai 200438, China
Jin-Yan Zhao, Department of Laboratory Medicine, Shanghai General Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai 200080, China
Co-first authors: Xue Liu and Jin-Yan Zhao.
Co-corresponding authors: Nai-Jian Ge and Xiang-Dong Wang.
Author contributions: Liu X composed and drafted the manuscript; Zhao JY prepared Figures 1 and 2 and drafted the manuscript; Xu ZY, Shen SQ, Xu ZJ and Yang YF prepared Table 1; Ge NJ revised and edited the manuscript; Wang XD designed, revised, and edited the manuscript; all authors reviewed the manuscript. Zhao XN and Lu J contributed equally to this work as co-first authors. Ge NJ revised the research plan, made the statistical methods, checked all medical record data, and edited the statistics and discussion parts of the paper. Wang XD took charge of selecting patients, got the clinical data, and modified all clinical diagnosis parts. If without each other’s data and analysis skills, neither of them can finish this study alone. Both two authors revised the whole paper together, answered all academic questions, and are responsible for all true data and research results. They both spend much time on study design, data collection and paper revision, so they can be co-corresponding authors.
AI contribution statement: AI tools were used solely for linguistic refinement and formatting assistance. No AI tool was involved in the generation of research data, interpretation of results, or formulation of conclusions. All AI-generated outputs were critically reviewed and revised by the authors.
Supported by Clinical Research Cultivation Program from Shanghai Eastern Hepatobiliary Surgery Hospital, No. 2023 LC004.
Institutional review board statement: This retrospective study was approved by the Shanghai Changhai Hospital.
Informed consent statement: All patients provided written informed consent for participation.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.
Data sharing statement: The raw data supporting the conclusions of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.
Corresponding author: Xiang-Dong Wang, Department of Interventional Radiology, Shanghai Eastern Hepatobiliary Surgery Hospital, No. 700 Moyu North Road, Shanghai 200438, China. 15502106056@163.com
Received: April 7, 2026
Revised: May 23, 2026
Accepted: June 23, 2026
Published online: July 28, 2026
Processing time: 110 Days and 18.2 Hours
Revised: May 23, 2026
Accepted: June 23, 2026
Published online: July 28, 2026
Processing time: 110 Days and 18.2 Hours
Core Tip
Core Tip: Marked arterio-portal shunt (APS) can be a contraindication for selective internal radiation therapy (SIRT) due to the risk of radiation-induced liver toxicity or pneumonitis. In this study, portal vein embolization (PVE) was performed to close the APS outlet in seven hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) patients, with complete occlusion achieved in six (n = 6, 6/7). Five patients subsequently completed SIRT. PVE is a safe and effective strategy to reduce intrahepatic shunting in advanced HCC patients with APS, thereby improving eligibility for SIRT.