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Efficacy of sorafenib in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma refractory to transcatheter arterial chemoembolization

  • Original Article—Liver, Pancreas, and Biliary Tract
  • Published:
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Abstract

Background

The efficacy of sorafenib for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) patients refractory to transcatheter arterial chemoembolization (TACE) has not yet been clarified. We investigated the efficacy of sorafenib in HCC patients who were refractory to TACE (sorafenib group) and retrospectively compared the results with those of patients treated with hepatic arterial infusion chemotherapy using cisplatin (cisplatin group).

Methods

We evaluated the anti-tumor effect, the time to progression, and the overall survival in 48 patients in the sorafenib group and 66 patients in the cisplatin group.

Results

The disease control rate to sorafenib was 60.4 %, the median time to progression was 3.9 months, and the median survival time was 16.4 months in patients who were refractory to TACE. When compared with the cisplatin group, significant differences in the patient characteristics were not observed between the two groups with the exception of patient age; however, the disease control rate (cisplatin group 28.8 %, P = 0.001), time to progression (cisplatin group: median 2.0 months, hazard ratio 0.44, P < 0.01), and overall survival (cisplatin group: median 8.6 months, hazard ratio 0.57, P < 0.001) were significantly superior in the sorafenib group. The multivariate analysis also showed the sorafenib treatment to be the most significant factor contributing to prolongation of time to progression and overall survival.

Conclusions

Sorafenib showed favorable treatment results in patients refractory to TACE. When compared with hepatic arterial infusion chemotherapy using cisplatin, sorafenib demonstrated a significantly higher disease control rate, a longer time to progression and increased overall survival.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported in part by Grants-in-Aid for Cancer Research and for the Third-Term Comprehensive 10-Year Strategy for Cancer Control from the Ministry of Health, Labour, and Welfare of Japan.

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Hepatobiliary and Pancreatic Oncology, National Cancer Center Hospital East, 6-5-1 Kashiwanoha, Kashiwa, Chiba, 277-8577, Japan

    Masafumi Ikeda, Shuichi Mitsunaga, Satoshi Shimizu, Izumi Ohno, Hideaki Takahashi, Hiroyuki Okuyama & Akiko Kuwahara

  2. Hepatobiliary and Pancreatic Oncology Division, National Cancer Center Hospital, Tokyo, Japan

    Shunsuke Kondo, Chigusa Morizane, Hideki Ueno & Takuji Okusaka

  3. Division of Diagnostic Radiology, National Cancer Center Hospital East, Kashiwa, Japan

    Mitsuo Satake

  4. Department of Diagnostic Radiology, National Cancer Center Hospital, Tokyo, Japan

    Yasuaki Arai

Authors
  1. Masafumi Ikeda
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  2. Shuichi Mitsunaga
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  3. Satoshi Shimizu
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  4. Izumi Ohno
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  5. Hideaki Takahashi
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  6. Hiroyuki Okuyama
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  7. Akiko Kuwahara
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  8. Shunsuke Kondo
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  9. Chigusa Morizane
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  10. Hideki Ueno
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  11. Mitsuo Satake
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  12. Yasuaki Arai
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  13. Takuji Okusaka
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Correspondence to Masafumi Ikeda.

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Ikeda, M., Mitsunaga, S., Shimizu, S. et al. Efficacy of sorafenib in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma refractory to transcatheter arterial chemoembolization. J Gastroenterol 49, 932–940 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00535-013-0853-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00535-013-0853-7

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