To investigate clinical outcomes of drug-eluting bead transarterial chemoembolization (DEB-TACE) using HepaSpheres 20–40 µm in diameter and subsequent cisplatin-based lipiodol TACE (Cis-TACE) in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) > 5 cm. Materials and Methods: This study included 39 consecutive patients (34 men, 5 women; mean age, 63.5 years; range, 39–80 years) who underwent DEB-TACE using HepaSpheres 20–40 µm as first-line treatment for HCC > 5 cm (mean diameter, 8.2 cm; range, 5.1–13 cm) between September 2018 and August 2019. Patients with new tumors, residual tumors, or tumor growth after initial DEB-TACE underwent subsequent Cis-TACE. Results: All 39 patients underwent initial DEB-TACE successfully, with 35 (89.7%) and three (7.7%) patients experiencing minor and major complications, respectively. After initial DEB-TACE, one patient (2.6%) achieved complete response (CR), 35 (89.7%) achieved partial response (PR), and three (7.7%) experienced progressive disease (PD). During a median follow-up period of 14.4 months (range, 0.6–23 months), 23 patients underwent Cis-TACE, with 11, three, and nine achieving CR, PR, and PD, respectively. The median overall survival time was 20.9 months (95% confidence interval (CI), 18.6−23.2 months), the median time to progression was 8.8 months (95% CI, 6.5−11.1 months), and the median time to local tumor recurrence was 16 months (95% CI, 7.4–24.6 months). Conclusions: DEB-TACE using HepaSpheres 20–40 µm in diameter can be a safe and effective initial treatment method in patients with HCC > 5 cm. Subsequent Cis-TACE constitutes a good adjuvant method to enhance tumor response after initial DEB-TACE.

Purpose: Reversible aggravation of myelopathy symptoms was observed after the intake of taurine-rich foods in patients with venous congestive myelopathy (VCM) caused by a spinal arteriovenous shunt (SAVS), and the taurine-challenge test was applied to demonstrate an association between taurine and VCM.Materials and Methods: The current study reviewed any aggravation history of myelopathy symptoms, including walking difficulty, after consuming taurine-rich foods among 133 consecutive patients with a SAVS from a prospective institutional database from June 2013 to February 2021. The type of taurine-rich foods, demographic data, arteriovenous shunt level, and follow-up periods were obtained. For the controlled taurine challenge test, Bacchus® (Dong-A Pharmaceutical, Seoul, Korea), a taurine-rich drink, was given to patients who fulfilled test criteria of recovered VCM (pain-sensory-motor-sphincter scale ≥2, improvement of spinal cord signal intensity on magnetic resonance imaging, and follow-up >6 months after SAVS treatment) to confirm the disappearance of such aggravation.Results: Ten patients had an aggravation history related to food. Webfoot octopus, small octopus, squid, crab, scallop, and taurine-rich energy drink (Bacchus®) were related to such aggravation in patients with VCM. Aggravation appeared about 30 minutes after food intake followed by expressions such as ‘I could not walk and collapsed to the ground’ and usually lasted for about 3 hours, followed by a slow recovery after taking rest. Four patients who met the test criteria underwent the taurine challenge with Bacchus® and revealed no further symptom aggravation, suggesting that taurine did not affect patients after recovery from VCM.Conclusion: The association between taurine-rich food and reversible symptom aggravation can appear in patients with VCM and disappear after VCM treatment. Aggravation of venous hypertension in the spinal cord is suggested as a mechanism but further elucidation is needed.