PURPOSE: To evaluate the effectiveness of emergent transcatheter arterial embolization(TAE) in the treatmentof bleeding from ruptured hepatocellular carcinoma(HCC) and long-term follow-up. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Twentypatients with ruptured HCC underwent emergent TAE; diagnosis was based on clinical and radiologic findings.Mesoportography was used to determine the presence of portal vein thrombosis, and celiac angiography to determinethe presence of hypervascular mass and extravasation of contrast material. All patients underwent TAE; a mixtureof adriamycin, mitomycin, lipiodol, and gelfoam particles was used. In four of the 20 patients, adjuvantembolization was performed, using stainless steel coils. After three week of follow-up CT, follow-up TAE wasperformed between two and ten times. RESULTS: Technical and clinical success was up to 100%. Mesoportographyshowed the presence of portal vein thrombosis in nine patients and its absence in 11. In 15 patients, three weeksof follow-up by CT showed lipiodol uptake by the mass and the disappearance of highly attenuated peritoneal fluid.Within one week of embolization, four of the 20 patients died of sepsis, shock, and hepatic failure, and withinone month of this procedure, one died of renal failure. Three-month, six-month, and one-year survival rates afterTAE were repectively 50%, 45%, and 30%; the mean duration of survival was 260 days. In nine patients with portalvein thrombosis, the one-year survival rate was 11%, while in 11 patients not suffering from this condition, therate was 70%; the difference between the two groups was statistically significant(p < 0.05). CONCLUSION: As thefirst choice of treatment for patients with hemoperitoneum from ruptured HCC, emergent TAE is an effective,life-saving therapeutic procedure; in these patients, portal vein thrombosis may be a factor influencing risk andprognosis.