Context: The management of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) recurrence after liver transplantation (LT) is challenging, especially if it is not treatable by surgery or embolization.
Objectives: The present study aims to compare the survival rates of liver transplanted patients receiving sorafenib or best supportive care (BSC) for HCC recurrence not amenable to curative intent treatments.
Design: This is a retrospective comparative study on a prospectively maintained database.
Participants: Liver transplanted patients with untreatable HCC recurrence receiving BSC (n = 18) until 2007 or sorafenib (n = 15) thereafter were compared.
Results: No group difference was observed for demographic characteristics at the time of transplantation and at the time of HCC recurrence. On the explant pathology of the native liver, 81.2% patients were classified within the Milan criteria, and 53.1% presented with microvascular invasion. Hepatocellular carcinoma recurrence was diagnosed 17.8 months (standard deviation: 14.5) after LT, with 17 (53.1%) patients presenting with early recurrence (≤12 months). The 1-year survival from untreatable progression of HCC recurrence was 23.9% for the BSC and 60% for the sorafenib group ( P = .002). The type of treatment (sorafenib vs BSC) was the sole independent predictor of survival (hazard ratio: 2.98; 95% confidence interval: 1.09-8.1; P = .033). In the sorafenib group, 8 (53.3%) patients required dose reduction, and 2 (13.3%) patients discontinued the treatment due to intolerable side effects.
Conclusion: Sorafenib improves survival and is superior to the BSC in cases of untreatable posttransplant hepatocellular carcinoma recurrence.
Keywords: best supportive care; hepatocellular carcinoma; liver transplantation; sorafenib; tumor recurrence.