Sorafenib treatment on Chinese patients with advanced hepatocellular carcinoma

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<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title>
<jats:p>Sorafenib is of proven efficacy in treating patients of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Our study was aimed to determine the factors influence the sorafenib efficacy.</jats:p>
<jats:p>We evaluated data of HCC patients receiving sorafenib from June 2012 to October 2016. All HCC cases were of the Barcelona Clinic Liver Cancer (BCLC) classification stage C. The exclusion criteria: those of BCLC classification stage A or B, with the absence or co-infection of hepatitis B (HBV) and hepatitis C (HCV). The presence of HBV, HCV, macoscopic vascular invasion (MVI) or extrahepatic spread (EHS) was recorded for each patient. Time-to-progression (TTP) and overall survival (OS) were analyzed.</jats:p>
<jats:p>Among a total of 90 HCC patients, 48 (53.3%) had HBV infection, 42 (46.7%) had HCV infection, 51 (56.7%) had MVI, and 39 (43.3%) had EHS. Patients with HCV infection showed better TTP and OS than those with HBV infection. Patients with EHS had a longer TTP and OS than those with MVI. For patients with HBV infection, those with EHS had a longer TTP (mean 4.60 vs 2.64 months, <jats:italic toggle="yes">P</jats:italic> = .002) and OS (mean 6.65 vs 4.53 months, <jats:italic toggle="yes">P</jats:italic> = .045) compared to those with MVI. Among those with MVI, patients with HBV infection had a poorer TTP (mean 2.64 vs 4.74 months, <jats:italic toggle="yes">P</jats:italic> = .019) and shorter OS (mean 4.53 vs 7.00 months, <jats:italic toggle="yes">P</jats:italic> = .059) compared to those with HCV infection.</jats:p>
<jats:p>HCC patients with HCV infection or with the presence of EHS showed better sorafenib efficacy.</jats:p>
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