Backgrounds/Aims Systemic therapy is the current standard treatment for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) with extrahepatic metastasis (EHM). However, some patients with HCC and EHM undergo transarterial chemoembolization (TACE) to manage intrahepatic tumors. Herein, we aimed to explore the appropriateness of TACE in patients with HCC and EHM in an era of advanced systemic therapy.
Methods This study analyzed 248 consecutive patients with HCC and EHM (median age, 58.5 years; male, 83.5%; Child-Pugh A, 88.7%) who received TACE or systemic therapy (83 sorafenib, 49 lenvatinib, 28 immunotherapy-based) between January 2018 and January 2021.
Results Among the patients, 196 deaths were recorded during a median follow-up of 8.9 months. Patients who received systemic therapy had a higher albumin-bilirubin grade, elevated tumor markers, an increased number of intrahepatic tumors, larger-sized tumors, and more frequent portal vein invasion than those who underwent TACE. TACE was associated with longer median overall survival (OS) than sorafenib (15.1 vs. 4.7 months; 95% confidence interval [CI], 11.1-22.2 vs. 3.7-7.3; hazard ratio [HR], 1.97; P<0.001). After adjustment for potential confounders, TACE was associated with statistically similar survival outcomes to those of lenvatinib (median OS, 8.0 months; 95% CI, 6.5-11.0; HR, 1.21; P=0.411) and immunotherapies (median OS, 14.3 months; 95% CI, 9.5-27.0; HR, 1.01; P=0.973), demonstrating survival benefits equivalent to these treatments.
Conclusions In patients with HCC and EHM, TACE can provide a survival benefit comparable to that of newer systemic therapies. Accordingly, TACE remains a valuable option in this era of new systemic therapies.
Citations
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Portal vein tumor thrombosis (PVTT) is an uncommon condition in which tumor cells expand into the vessels, causing blood clot formation in the portal vein. PVTT is mainly associated with hepatocellular carcinoma, leading to an unfavorable prognosis; however, it can also develop in patients with other cancer types. Herein, we report a case of metastatic renal cell carcinoma diagnosed by a blind liver biopsy in a patient with dynamic computed tomography-confirmed portal vein thrombosis and cholangiopathy. This case illustrates the importance of systematic surveillance with routine laboratory tests and contrast-enhanced imaging studies on patients with cancer to detect potential liver infiltration of metastatic cancer.
Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) with distant metastasis is an absolute contraindication for liver transplantation (LT). However, it is still unclear whether LT is feasible or acceptable in such patients, albeit after being treated with a multidisciplinary approach and after any metastatic lesion is ruled out. We report one such successful treatment with living donor LT (LDLT) after completely controlling far-advanced HCC with inferior vena cava tumor thrombosis and multiple lung metastases. The patient has been doing well without HCC recurrence for eight years since LDLT. The current patient could be an anecdotal case, but provides a case for expanding LDLT indications in the context of advanced HCC and suchlike.
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With the advances in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) treatment, the lung metastasis of HCC is becoming increasingly important. In treating the lung metastasis of HCC, a multidisciplinary approach can lead to better results than systemic chemotherapy alone. Here, we report on a patient who presented with pulmonary masses, while the HCC was being controlled in the abdominal cavity. The presence of nontuberculous mycobacteria was identified during the diagnosis of the pulmonary masses. The pulmonary metastases of HCC were treated with a combination of angiotherapy, radiation therapy, and radiofrequency ablation. The patient showed a satisfactory progress with this multidisciplinary localized treatment. We report the clinical progress and review the recent literature regarding the treatment of pulmonary metastasis without intrahepatic HCC herein.
In hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), sorafenib is the only approved systemic chemotherapy,
and has been applied for those with advanced HCC especially with systemic metastasis.
However, the treatment results are suboptimal leaving many cases with disease progression
despite the use of optimum dose. There is no established guideline for those that fail to
respond to sorafenib treatment. In this case, a 46-years-old male with metastatic lung cancer
from HCC experienced progression despite sorafenib treatment. Then, the patient received
surgical resection of the metastatic lung mass followed by radiation therapy and achieved
complete remission for 10 months after the surgical treatment and radiation therapy.
Alpha-fetoprotein level was normalized and complete remission has been maintained.
Brain metastasis is a rare condition of extraheptaic metastases in hepatocellular carcinoma
(HCC). Patients with hepatocellular carcinoma and brain metastasis have rapidly worsened
neurologic signs and symptoms, therefore it is regarded to oncologic emergency. Current
recommended treatments for brain metastasis are surgical resection or gamma-knife surgery
with/without whole brain radiation therapy (RT). However, patients with brain metastasis
have a very poor prognosis after adequate treatment. Here, we report a 62-year-old man with
HCC and brain metastasis who had long term survival after surgical resection and whole brain
RT. (J Liver Cancer 2016;16:38-41)
Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is usually associated with chronic liver disease such as
liver cirrhosis. Primary HCC lesions and even recurrent intrahepatic lesions can be treated
successfully by using variable modalities applicable to intrahepatic lesions. HCC can cause
intrahepatic multiple occurrence and extrahepatic metastasis. Extrahepatic metastasis occurs
in up to about 60% of patients of HCC, and a major of patients with extrahepatic HCC had late
intrahepatic stage of tumor. Themost frequent site of extrahepatic metastasis of HCC was the
lung. HCC metastasized to soft tissues was unusually reported. Extrahepatic metastasis of
HCC, especially to unusual site, should not be overlooked and must be able to be controlled.
We experienced a case that HCC was metastasized to the pronator quadratus muscle of right
wrist and chould be removed surgically.
Patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) may be suffered by various emergency conditions such as spontaneous rupture
of HCC with intraperitoneal hemorrhage, variceal bleeding with portal vein tumor thrombus, hemobilia, obstructive jaundice,
distant metastasis of HCC in central nervous system, spinal bone metastasis of HCC with cord compression and so on. These
emergencies can be categorized into 4 types, conditions with spontaneous rupture of HCC, distant metastasis of HCC, direct
invasion of HCC and paraneoplastic syndrome. According to HCC status and liver function, some these patients showed more
beneficial effects with active palliative treatments than with best supportive cares. Various palliative treatments can be used such
as surgical resection, transarterial chemoembolization, radiotherapy, systemic chemotherapy and combination of above therapies.
We reviewed the emergencies in patients with HCC for improving survival and quality of life.