Abstract: Objective To investigate the protective effects of compound glycyrrhizin on hepatic injury induced by three-dimensional conformal radiotherapy（3DCRT） in patients with primary liver carcinoma（PLC）. Methods A total of 113 patients with advanced hepatocellular carcinoma were randomly divided into study group （n=62） and control group （n=51）. The patients in the two groups were treated with 3DCRT,and the dose was 2.6~3.2Gy each time with the total doses of 48~60Gy;and the patients in study group were also treated with injections of compound glycyrrhizin intravenously at dose of 60ml per day for 4 weeks,then the glycyrrhizin tablets were given orally for 2~3 months. Results The levels of ALT and AST after radiation in both groups were elevated as compared with that before radiation, but the elevated levels of ALT （51.6±12.6 U/L） and AST（48.3±14.4 U/L） in the study group were significantly lower than that in the control group（85.2±19.9 U/L and 73.8±17.8 U/L,respectively,P<0.01）,and the rate of radiation-induced liver disease（RILD） in the study group（4 cases,6.5%） was lower than that in the control group（10 cases,19.6%,P<0.05）. Conclusion Compound glycyrrhizin can prevent and improve the hepatic injury induced by 3DCRT in patients with PLC, and it also can reduce the rate of RILD occurrence.

Key words: Hepatoma, Hepatic injury, Three-dimensional conformal radiotherapy, Radiation-induced liver disease, Compound glycyrrhizin