TACE-Sorafenib With Thermal Ablation Has Survival Benefits in Patients With Huge Unresectable Hepatocellular Carcinoma

Ying Wu; Han Qi; Fei Cao; Lujun Shen; Shuanggang Chen; Lin Xie; Tao Huang; Ze Song; Danyang Zhou; Weijun Fan

doi:10.3389/fphar.2020.01130

TACE-Sorafenib With Thermal Ablation Has Survival Benefits in Patients With Huge Unresectable Hepatocellular Carcinoma

Front Pharmacol. 2020 Jul 29:11:1130. doi: 10.3389/fphar.2020.01130. eCollection 2020.

Authors

Ying Wu^{1

2}, Han Qi^{1

2}, Fei Cao^{1

2}, Lujun Shen^{1

2}, Shuanggang Chen^{1

2}, Lin Xie^{1

2}, Tao Huang^{1

2}, Ze Song³, Danyang Zhou^{1

3}, Weijun Fan^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Minimally Invasive Interventional Therapy, Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center, Guangzhou, China.
² Department of Medical Oncology, Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center, Guangzhou, China.
³ State Key Laboratory of Oncology in South China, Collaborative Innovation Center of Cancer Medicine, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, China.

Abstract

Purpose: To investigate the effectiveness and safety of transarterial chemoembolization (TACE) combined with sorafenib and thermal ablation in patients with huge hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).

Materials and methods: This retrospective study examined 50 patients with huge unresectable HCC treated from January 2009 to December 2015. Among them, 28 cases received TACE-sorafenib treatment (TACE-sorafenib group), and 22 cases received TACE-sorafenib plus thermal ablation treatment (TACE-sorafenib-thermal ablation group). The Overall survival (OS), progression-free survival (PFS), and adverse events (AEs) were compared.

Results: The median follow-up was 13.5 months (ranges 4.2 to 96.7 months). The median OS was significantly longer in the TACE-sorafenib-thermal ablation group than that in the TACE-sorafenib group (20.8 vs. 10.4 months, P=0.003). The median PFS of the ablation and no ablation groups were 4.3 vs. 7.1 months (P=0.546). The treatment modality was an independent predictor of OS (P=0.004). There were no notable drug-related high grade adverse events or permanent adverse sequelae.

Conclusion: TACE-sorafenib-thermal ablation provided extended OS to patients with huge unresectable HCC and could be a better choice than TACE-sorafenib.

Keywords: drug resistance; hepatocellular carcinoma; sorafenib; thermal ablation; transarterial chemoembolization; treatment.