Phase III multi-centre open-label randomized controlled trial of selective internal radiation therapy (SIRT) versus sorafenib in locally advanced hepatocellular carcinoma: The SIRveNIB study.

Abstract

4002 Background: The optimal therapeutic regime for locally advanced hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) with and without vascular invasion remains unclear. This study evaluates the efficacy of Selective Internal Radiation Therapy using SIR-Spheres yttrium-90 microspheres (Y90) versus sorafenib in Asian Barcelona Clinic Liver Cancer (BCLC) stage B and C patients without extra-hepatic metastasis. Methods: This investigator-initiated multi-center trial randomized eligible patients with locally advanced inoperable HCC to single injection of Y90 or sorafenib (oral 400mg BD) till progressive disease or unacceptable toxicity. The sample size, assuming type I error (two-sided) of 0.05 and power of 90% was 360 patients. Final analysis was planned at 266 reported deaths. Results: 360 patients (182 Y90, 178 sorafenib) were enrolled from 27 centers in 11 Asian countries. BCLC C patients without extra-hepatic metastasis comprised 41.4% of patients, 30.6% had portal vein thrombosis (PVT), 88.6% were Child-Pugh A, 57.2% were hepatitis B and 15.0% were hepatitis C. Altogether 28.6% and 9.0% of patients in the Y90 and sorafenib arms respectively failed to receive planned therapy. Intention-to-treat analysis was carried out with the overall survival (OS) in the Y90 and sorafenib arms being 8.54 and 10.58 months respectively (Hazard ratio (HR) 1.17, p =0.203). Tumour response rate (TRR) was 16.5% and 1.7% (p < 0.001) respectively. Time-to-tumor -progression (TTP) was 5.88 vs 5.36 (overall) (HR 0.93) and 6.08 vs 5.39 (liver-specific) (HR 0.91) months for Y90 and sorafenib respectively. Progression-free-survival (PFS) was 5.29 vs 5.06 (overall) (HR 0.94) and 5.85 vs 5.06 (liver-specific) (HR 0.92) months respectively. At least one severe adverse event was found in 27.7% and 50.6% of patients in the Y90 and sorafenib arms respectively. Conclusions: Asian patients with locally advanced HCC without extra-hepatic metastasis treated with Y90 have statistically significant better TRR, and fewer SAEs when compared with those treated with sorafenib. There were no statistically significant differences in OS between Y90 and sorafenib. Clinical trial information: NCT01135056.