Abstract: Objective 　To investigate the clinical value of hepatoma-specific alpha-fetoprotein ( HS-AFP) for judgment of severity, treatment response and prognosis in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma ( HCC) undergoing transcatheter arterial chemoembolization. ( TACE) . Methods 　HS-AFP was separated with PAGE and determined with Western blot . HS-AFP was measured in 41 cases with HCC before and af ter TACE. The correlations were analyzed between HS-AFP and tumor size, stage, response to treatment as well as survival time. Results 　The positive rate of HS-AFP was higher in HCC cases with tumor sizes larger than 5 cm than those with tumor size less than 5 cm, and higher in the cases at stage Ⅱ a + b than those at stage Ⅰ. The response rate to TACE was lower in cases with positive HS-AFP than those with negative HS-AFP af ter operation (4. 5 % vs. 73. 6 %, P < 0. 001) . Both univariate and multivariate analysis revealed that HS-AFP af ter TACE was related to the prognosis. Conclusion 　HS-AFP is useful to judgment of severity of HCC before TACE. Particularly, it is valuable for judgment of prognosis after TACE.