Background: Sorafenib is a multikinase inhibitor targeting Raf and protein tyrosine kinases, which are involved in cell growth and tumor angiogenesis. Sorafenib administration induces temporary inhibition of tumor growth and a decrease in arterial blood flow in a considerable number of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) patients. We retrospectively evaluated the association between decreased blood flow and the overall survival (OS) of HCC patients after the initiation of sorafenib therapy.
Patients and methods: Therapeutic responses of 158 advanced HCC patients with hypervascular tumors who had received sorafenib for more than 1 month were analyzed. To assess their therapeutic response, patients underwent radiological evaluation before and every 4-6 weeks after the initiation of sorafenib treatment. After the classification of patients into three groups based on the change in arterial enhancement during treatment (no change, decrease and disappearance), the OS of each group was compared using the Kaplan-Meier method.
Results: Statistically significant differences in OS were observed among the three groups (p < 0.001). A decrease or disappearance of arterial enhancement was significantly associated with improved OS compared to patients with no change in arterial enhancement; the median OS was 19.9 months (95% confidence interval, CI, 16.4-24.5 months) and 6.0 months (95% CI, 4.0-8.8 months), respectively (p < 0.001). However, there was no difference in OS between the decrease and disappearance groups (p = 0.88).
Conclusion: We conclude that decreased arterial enhancement during sorafenib treatment was associated with the longest OS and could therefore reflect an effective response.