Clinical efficacy of non-transplant therapies in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma with Child-Pugh C liver cirrhosis

Abstract

Aim: To compare clinical outcome in patients with Child-Pugh C hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) treated with non-transplant therapies and those treated with best supportive care.

Patients and methods: A total of 182 patients with HCC with Child-Pugh C cirrhosis were analyzed. Patients were classified into two groups: patients treated with non-transplant therapies (n=113, treated group) and untreated patients (n=69, untreated group). Furthermore, for reducing the bias in patient selection, a propensity score matching analysis was performed (55 pairs).

Results: The median survival time in the treated group was significantly longer than that in the untreated group (1.16 years vs. 0.21 years, p<0.001). After propensity score matching, the median survival time in the treated group remained significantly longer than that in the untreated group (0.95 years vs. 0.17 years, p=0.01).

Conclusion: In patients with HCC with Child-Pugh C cirrhosis, those treated with non-transplant therapies might have longer survival than untreated patients.

Keywords: Child-Pugh C; Hepatocellular carcinoma; best supportive care; non-transpalnt therapies; overall survival.