Risk of recurrence in chronic hepatitis B patients developing hepatocellular carcinoma with antiviral secondary prevention failure

I-Cheng Lee; Gar-Yang Chau; Yi-Chen Yeh; Yee Chao; Teh-Ia Huo; Chien-Wei Su; Han-Chieh Lin; Ming-Chih Hou; Yi-Hsiang Huang

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0188552

Risk of recurrence in chronic hepatitis B patients developing hepatocellular carcinoma with antiviral secondary prevention failure

PLoS One. 2017 Nov 27;12(11):e0188552. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0188552. eCollection 2017.

Authors

I-Cheng Lee^{1

2

3}, Gar-Yang Chau⁴, Yi-Chen Yeh⁵, Yee Chao⁶, Teh-Ia Huo^{1

7}, Chien-Wei Su^{1

2

3}, Han-Chieh Lin¹, Ming-Chih Hou^{1

2}, Yi-Hsiang Huang^{1

2

3}

Affiliations

¹ Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Department of Medicine, Taipei Veterans General Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan.
² Faculty of Medicine, National Yang-Ming University School of Medicine, Taipei, Taiwan.
³ Institute of Clinical Medicine, National Yang-Ming University, Taipei, Taiwan.
⁴ Department of Surgery, Taipei Veterans General Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan.
⁵ Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Taipei Veterans General Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan.
⁶ Cancer Center, Taipei Veterans General Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan.
⁷ Institute of Pharmacology, National Yang-Ming University School of Medicine, Taipei, Taiwan.

Abstract

Background: Nucleos(t)ide analogues (NUCs) treatment can reduce the risk of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) development and recurrence in chronic hepatitis B (CHB) patients. However, the risk of recurrence in CHB patients who develop HCC despite NUC treatment remains unclear.

Methods: 167 consecutive CHB patients receiving curative resection for HCC with NUC therapy after surgery were retrospectively enrolled. Thirty-eight patients who developed HCC despite NUC therapy for more than 1 year were defined as secondary prevention failure. The other 129 patients started NUC therapy after surgery. Factors associated with recurrence-free survival (RFS) and overall survival (OS) were evaluated.

Results: The 5-year RFS and OS rates were 44.7% and 77.3%, respectively. Sex, BMI, BCLC stage, AFP levels and cirrhosis status were the independent predictors of RFS, while microvascular invasion was the independent predictor of OS. The RFS was comparable between patients with and without NUC secondary prevention. In the subgroup analysis, the RFS was significantly worse in cirrhotic patients with secondary prevention failure (hazard ratio = 2.373, p = 0.009). Secondary prevention failure did not have adverse impact on OS. Among 84 patients with recurrence, 58.3% of the cases remained in BCLC stage A, and 53.6% received a second curative treatment. Long-term NUC therapy may lead to a decline of non-invasive indices of hepatic fibrosis in HCC patients.

Conclusions: In general, the risk of recurrence and survival are comparable between patients with and without secondary prevention failure. However, a higher risk of recurrence was observed in cirrhotic patients with secondary prevention failure.

MeSH terms

Aged
Antiviral Agents / therapeutic use*
Carcinoma, Hepatocellular / complications*
Female
Hepatitis B, Chronic / complications
Hepatitis B, Chronic / drug therapy
Hepatitis B, Chronic / physiopathology*
Humans
Liver Neoplasms / complications*
Male
Middle Aged
Recurrence
Risk Factors
Survival Analysis

Substances

Antiviral Agents

Grants and funding

The study was supported by grants from Taipei Veterans General Hospital (V105B-007, V106B-021), Taipei, Taiwan (URL: https://www.vghtpe.gov.tw/Index.action). This study was also supported by the Ministry of Science and Technology, Taiwan (MOST 105-2628-B-075-006-MY2). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.