Sorafenib as an adjuvant therapy for hepatocellular carcinoma with microvascular invasion after radical resection: A prospective multicenter nonrandomized controlled study.

Abstract

e16685 Background: Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) with microvascular invasion (MVI) is established with poorer outcome and more frequent postoperative recurrence. Sorafenib is the first target drug that successfully prolongs the survival of advanced HCC, but it failed to prolong the survival of HCC after radical resection or ablation in the STORM study. After that, series studies revealed that sorafenib could improve the survival of HCC with MVI after surgery, while most studies with positive results were retrospective ones. Methods: A multicenter, prospective non-randomized, open-label study was performed in pts undergoing radical resection, postoperative pathology confirming HCC with MVI (BCLC A or B stage; T2 or part T3aN0M0). Pts in the treatment group (S group) started sorafenib within 4-6 postoperative weeks at the dose of 400mg per day at most 2 years, and the control group (C group) never received sorafenib. The primary endpoint is recurrence-free survival (RFS) rate at the 2nd postoperative year, and the secondary endpoints include postoperative median time to recurrence (TTR), 1-year postoperative RFS, pts’ overall survival (OS), and safety. This study was approved by Ethical Committee of Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center, and registered at ClinicalTrials.gov with number NCT02867280. Results: Between 1 June 2015 and 31 August 2019, 154 eligible pts from 3 academic hospitals in China were enrolled (83 in C group and 53 in S group). Baseline demographics were balanced between the two groups. The 2-yr RFS rate was 56.1% in the S group vs. 55.7% in the C group, respectively ( P = 0.955), and the median RFS was 15.5 vs. 16.0 months ( P = 0.827).The recurrence rates at the 1st postoperative year were 38.6% vs. 34.0% ( P = 0.568), and the median TTR was the same as the RFS. There were 31 pts (54.4%) of the S group experienced treatment-related adverse events (AEs). The most common AE was hand-foot syndrome (HFS, 19/57, 10 pts ≥ grade-2). Other AEs included diarrhoea (15/57, 26.4%), alopecia (11/57, 19.3%), hypertension (5/57, 8.8%) and decreased platelet (3/57, 5.3%), and gastric ulcer with bleeding (1/57, 1.8%). Sorafenib was interrupted or discontinued in 7 pts due to AEs. Recruiting of this study was closed according to the results of the planned mid-term analysis, and all pts were followed on schedule to observe the other survival data. Conclusions: Postoperative sorafenib treatment with dose of 400mg once daily was well tolerated, but did not improve the RFS and TTR of Chinese HCC pts with MVI. Clinical trial information: NCT02867280 .