scholarly journals Proton versus photon radiotherapy for primary hepatocellular carcinoma: A propensity-matched analysis

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jen-Yu Cheng ◽  
Chieh-Min Liu ◽  
Yu-Ming Wang ◽  
Hsuan-Chih Hsu ◽  
Eng-Yen Huang ◽  
...  

Abstract Background Proton radiotherapy has a dosimetric advantage over photon radiotherapy. Many retrospective studies have shown promising results with proton radiotherapy for treating hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). However, clinical evidence demonstrating the benefit of protons over photons is still limited. We therefore compared clinical outcomes for the two modalities using medical research databases from our medical foundation.Methods We conducted a propensity score-matched cohort study based on our multi-institution medical organization research database. From January 2007 to January 2018, a total of 413 patients (photon: 349; proton: 64) who were diagnosed with HCC and primarily treated with radiotherapy with curative intent were enrolled. Overall survival (OS) and radiation-induced liver disease (RILD) were assessed. Stratified analysis was also performed to evaluate the heterogeneous effects of the two arms.Results A total of 110 patients (photon: 55; proton: 55) were analyzed in the propensity-matched series. The matched groups were balanced for baseline tumor risk factors. Cox regression analysis revealed a significant survival benefit in the proton group (p = 0.032, HR 0.56, 95 CI 0.33–0.96). The median overall survival in the proton and photon group was not reached and 17.4 months, respectively. The biological equivalent dose for radiotherapy was significantly higher in the proton group than the photon group (median, 96.56 Gray vs. 62.5 Gray, p < 0.001). The risk of RILD was significantly lower in the proton group (11.8% vs. 36%, p = 0.004).Conclusions Proton radiotherapy could deliver a higher radiation dose without increasing the risk of RILD and result in a better overall survival rate for those diagnosed with HCC and treated with radiotherapy with curative intent.

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jen-Yu Cheng ◽  
Chieh-Min Liu ◽  
Yu-Ming Wang ◽  
Hsuan-Chih Hsu ◽  
Eng-Yen Huang ◽  
...  

Abstract Background Proton radiotherapy has a dosimetric advantage over photon radiotherapy. Many retrospective studies have shown promising results with proton radiotherapy in treating hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). However, clinical evidence demonstrating the benefit of protons over photons is still limited. We therefore compared the clinical outcomes of the two modalities using medical research databases from our medical foundation.Methods We conducted a propensity score-matched cohort study based on our multi-institution medical organization research database. From January 2007 to January 2018, a total of 413 patients (photon: 349; proton: 64) who were diagnosed with HCC and primarily treated with radiotherapy with curative intent were enrolled. Overall survival (OS) and radiation-induced liver disease (RILD) were assessed. Stratified analysis was also performed to evaluate the heterogeneous effects of the two arms.Results A total of 110 patients (photon: 55; proton: 55) were analyzed in the propensity-matched series. The matched groups were balanced for baseline tumor risk factors. Cox regression analysis revealed a significant survival benefit in the proton group (p=0.032, HR 0.56, 95% CI 0.33-0.96). The median overall survival in the proton group was not reached and that in the photon group was 17.4 months. The biological equivalent dose of radiotherapy was significantly higher in the proton group than in the photon group (median, 96.56 Gray [relative biological effectiveness] vs. 62.5 Gray, p<0.001). The risk of RILD was significantly lower in the proton group (11.8% vs. 36%, p=0.004).Conclusions Proton radiotherapy could deliver a higher radiation dose than photon radiotherapy without increasing the risk of RILD and result in a better overall survival rate for those diagnosed with HCC and treated with radiotherapy with curative intent.


2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (02) ◽  
pp. 81-86
Author(s):  
Aakash Patel ◽  
Indusekhara Subbanna ◽  
Vidya Bhargavi ◽  
Shivakumar Swamy ◽  
Kumarswamy G. Kallur ◽  
...  

Abstract Purpose This article presents our experience regarding survival benefits in inoperable intermediate stage hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and advanced stage HCC treated with 131I-lipiodol. Materials and Methods This is a retrospective study of intermediate stage HCC (Barcelona Clinic Liver Cancer [BCLC] stage B) not responding to prior treatment and/or advanced stage HCC (BCLC stage C) treated with 131I-lipiodol. 131I-lipiodol was injected into the hepatic artery through transfemoral route. Postprocedure, the patient was isolated for 5 to 7 days. All patients underwent tumor response evaluation after 4 weeks. Survival of patients was calculated up to either death or conclusion of the study. Results A total of 55 patients (52 males [94.5%], 3 females [5.4%]) were given intra-arterial 131I-lipiodol therapy. The median overall survival after transarterial radioembolization (TARE) was 172 ± 47 days (95% confidence limit, 79–264 days). The overall survival at 3, 6, 9, and 12 months was 69, 47, 32, and 29%, respectively. A multivariate Cox regression analysis showed the presence of treatment prior to TARE to most significantly influence survival (B = 2.161, p ≤ 0.001). This was followed by size of the lesion which was second in line (B = 0.536, p = 0.034). Among 45 patients, 14 patients (31.1%) showed a partial response, 11 patients (24.4%) showed stable disease, and 20 patients (44.4%) showed progressive diseases. Conclusion TARE with 131I-lipiodol can be a safe and effective palliative treatment in advanced stage HCC and in patients with poor response to prior treatments like transarterial chemoembolization.


PeerJ ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
pp. e11273
Author(s):  
Lei Yang ◽  
Weilong Yin ◽  
Xuechen Liu ◽  
Fangcun Li ◽  
Li Ma ◽  
...  

Background Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is considered to be a malignant tumor with a high incidence and a high mortality. Accurate prognostic models are urgently needed. The present study was aimed at screening the critical genes for prognosis of HCC. Methods The GSE25097, GSE14520, GSE36376 and GSE76427 datasets were obtained from Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO). We used GEO2R to screen differentially expressed genes (DEGs). A protein-protein interaction network of the DEGs was constructed by Cytoscape in order to find hub genes by module analysis. The Metascape was performed to discover biological functions and pathway enrichment of DEGs. MCODE components were calculated to construct a module complex of DEGs. Then, gene set enrichment analysis (GSEA) was used for gene enrichment analysis. ONCOMINE was employed to assess the mRNA expression levels of key genes in HCC, and the survival analysis was conducted using the array from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) of HCC. Then, the LASSO Cox regression model was performed to establish and identify the prognostic gene signature. We validated the prognostic value of the gene signature in the TCGA cohort. Results We screened out 10 hub genes which were all up-regulated in HCC tissue. They mainly enrich in mitotic cell cycle process. The GSEA results showed that these data sets had good enrichment score and significance in the cell cycle pathway. Each candidate gene may be an indicator of prognostic factors in the development of HCC. However, hub genes expression was weekly associated with overall survival in HCC patients. LASSO Cox regression analysis validated a five-gene signature (including CDC20, CCNB2, NCAPG, ASPM and NUSAP1). These results suggest that five-gene signature model may provide clues for clinical prognostic biomarker of HCC.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pei-Min Hsieh ◽  
Hung-Yu Lin ◽  
Chao-Ming Hung ◽  
Gin-Ho Lo ◽  
I-Cheng Lu ◽  
...  

Abstract Background: The benefits of surgical resection (SR) for various Barcelona Clinic Liver Cancer (BCLC) stages of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) remain unclear. We investigated the risk factors of overall survival (OS) and survival benefits of SR over nonsurgical treatments in patients with HCC of various BCLC stages.Methods: Overall, 2316 HCC patients were included, and their clinicopathological data and OS were recorded. OS was analyzed by the Kaplan-Meier method and Cox regression analysis. Propensity score matching (PSM) analysis was performed.Results: In total, 66 (2.8%), 865 (37.4%), 575 (24.8%) and 870 (35.0%) patients had BCLC stage 0, A, B, and C disease, respectively. Furthermore, 1302 (56.2%) of all patients, and 37 (56.9%), 472 (54.6%), 313 (54.4%) and 480 (59.3%) of patients with BCLC stage 0, A, B, and C disease, respectively, died. The median follow-up duration time was 20 (range 0-96) months for the total cohort and was subdivided into 52 (8-96), 32 (1-96), 19 (0-84), and 12 (0-79) months for BCLC stages 0, A, B, and C cohorts, respectively. The risk factors for OS were 1) SR and cirrhosis; 2) SR, cirrhosis, and Child-Pugh (C-P) class; 3) SR, hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection, and C-P class; and 4) SR, HBV infection, and C-P class for the BCLC stage 0, A, B, and C cohorts, respectively. Compared to non-SR treatment, SR resulted in significantly higher survival rates in all cohorts. The 5-year OS rates for SR vs non-SR were 44.0% vs 28.7%, 72.2% vs 42.6%, 42.6% vs 36.2, 44.6% vs 23.5%, and 41.4% vs 15.3% (all p-values<0.05) in the total and BCLC stage 0, A, B, and C cohorts, respectively. After PSM, SR resulted in significantly higher survival rates compared to non-SR treatment in various BCLC stages.Conclusion: SR conferred significant survival benefits to patients with HCC of various BCLC stages and should be considered a recommended treatment for select HCC patients, especially patients with BCLC stage B and C disease.


2021 ◽  
Vol 20 ◽  
pp. 153303382110414
Author(s):  
Xiaoyong Li ◽  
Jiaqong Lin ◽  
Yuguo pan ◽  
Peng Cui ◽  
Jintang Xia

Background: Liver progenitor cells (LPCs) play significant roles in the development and progression of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). However, no studies on the value of LPC-related genes for evaluating HCC prognosis exist. We developed a gene signature of LPC-related genes for prognostication in HCC. Methods: To identify LPC-related genes, we analyzed mRNA expression arrays from a dataset (GSE57812 & GSE 37071) containing LPCs, mature hepatocytes, and embryonic stem cell samples. HCC RNA-Seq data from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) were used to explore the differentially expressed genes (DEGs) related to prognosis through DEG analysis and univariate Cox regression analysis. Lasso and multivariate Cox regression analyses were performed to construct the LPC-related gene prognostic model in the TCGA training dataset. This model was validated in the TCGA testing set and an external dataset (International Cancer Genome Consortium [ICGC] dataset). Finally, we investigated the relationship between this prognostic model with tumor-node-metastasis stage, tumor grade, and vascular invasion of HCC. Results: Overall, 1770 genes were identified as LPC-related genes, of which 92 genes were identified as DEGs in HCC tissues compared with normal tissues. Furthermore, we randomly assigned patients from the TCGA dataset to the training and testing cohorts. Twenty-six DEGs correlated with overall survival (OS) in the univariate Cox regression analysis. Lasso and multivariate Cox regression analyses were performed in the TCGA training set, and a 3-gene signature was constructed to stratify patients into 2 risk groups: high-risk and low-risk. Patients in the high-risk group had significantly lower OS than those in the low-risk group. Receiver operating characteristic curve analysis confirmed the signature's predictive capacity. Moreover, the risk score was confirmed to be an independent predictor for patients with HCC. Conclusion: We demonstrated that the LPC-related gene signature can be used for prognostication in HCC. Thus, targeting LPCs may serve as a therapeutic alternative for HCC.


2021 ◽  
Vol 2021 ◽  
pp. 1-15
Author(s):  
Zheng Yao ◽  
Song Wen ◽  
Jun Luo ◽  
Weiyuan Hao ◽  
Weiren Liang ◽  
...  

Background. Accurate and effective biomarkers for the prognosis of patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) are poorly identified. A network-based gene signature may serve as a valuable biomarker to improve the accuracy of risk discrimination in patients. Methods. The expression levels of cancer hallmarks were determined by Cox regression analysis. Various bioinformatic methods, such as GSEA, WGCNA, and LASSO, and statistical approaches were applied to generate an MTORC1 signaling-related gene signature (MSRS). Moreover, a decision tree and nomogram were constructed to aid in the quantification of risk levels for each HCC patient. Results. Active MTORC1 signaling was found to be the most vital predictor of overall survival in HCC patients in the training cohort. MSRS was established and proved to hold the capacity to stratify HCC patients with poor outcomes in two validated datasets. Analysis of the patient MSRS levels and patient survival data suggested that the MSRS can be a valuable risk factor in two validated datasets and the integrated cohort. Finally, we constructed a decision tree which allowed to distinguish subclasses of patients at high risk and a nomogram which could accurately predict the survival of individuals. Conclusions. The present study may contribute to the improvement of current prognostic systems for patients with HCC.


2020 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiao-Yan Meng ◽  
Xiu-Ping Zhang ◽  
Zhe Sun ◽  
Hong-Qian Wang ◽  
Wei-Feng Yu

Abstract Background Whether anesthesia type is associated with the surgical outcome of Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) patients with portal vein tumor thrombus (PVTT) remains to be determined. This study aims to investigate the impact of volatile inhalational anesthesia (INHA) versus total IV anesthesia (TIVA) on the survival outcomes in HCC patients with PVTT. Methods A cohort of in-patients whom were diagnosed of HCC with PVTT in Eastern Hepatobiliary Surgery Hospital, Shanghai, China, from January 1, 2008 to December 24, 2012 were identified. Surgical patients receiving the INHA and TIVA were screened out. The overall survival (OS), recurrence-free survival (RFS) and several postoperative adverse events were compared according to anesthesia types. Results A total of 1513 patients were included in this study. After exclusions are applied, 263 patients remain in the INHA group and 208 in the TIVA group. Patients receiving INHA have a lower 5-year overall survival rate than that of patients receiving TIVA [12.6% (95% CI, 9.0 to 17.3) vs. 17.7% (95% CI, 11.3 to 20.8), P = 0.024]. Results of multivariable Cox-regression analysis also identify that INHA anesthesia is significantly associated with mortality and cancer recurrence after surgery compare to TIVA, with HR (95%CI) of 1.303 (1.065, 1.595) and 1.265 (1.040, 1.539), respectively. Subgroup analysis suggested that in more severe cancer patients, the worse outcome related to INHA might be more significant. Conclusion This retrospective analysis identifies that TIVA is associated with better outcomes compared with INHA. Future prospective studies clinical and translational studies are required to verify this difference and investigate underlying pathophysiology.


2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shuaiqun Wang ◽  
Dalu Yang ◽  
Wei Kong

The autophagy cell, which can inhibit the formation of tumor in the early stage and can promote the development of tumor in the late stage, plays an important role in the development of tumor. Therefore, it has potential significance to explore the influence of autophagy-related genes (AAGs) on the prognosis of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). The differentially expressed AAGs are selected from HCC gene expression profile data and clinical data downloaded from the TCGA database, and human autophagy database (HADB). The role of AAGs in HCC is elucidated by GO functional annotation and KEGG pathway enrichment analysis. Combining with clinical data, we selected age, gender, grade, stage, T state, M state, and N state as Cox model indexes to construct the multivariate Cox model and survival curve of Kaplan Meier (KM) was drawn to estimate patients’ survival between high- and low-risk groups. Through an ROC curve drawn by univariate and multivariate Cox regression analysis, we found that seven genes with high expression levels, including HSP90AB1, SQSTM1, RHEB, HDAC1, ATIC, HSPB8, and BIRC5 were associated with poor prognosis of HCC patients. Then the ICGC database is used to verify the reliability and robustness of the model. Therefore, the prognosis model of HCC constructed by autophagy genes might effectively predict the overall survival rate and help to find the best personalized targeted therapy of patients with HCC, which can provide better prognosis for patients.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chih-Wen Lin ◽  
Yaw-Sen Chen ◽  
Gin-Ho Lo ◽  
Yao-Chun Hsu ◽  
Chia-Chang Hsu ◽  
...  

Abstract Background: Patients with Barcelona Clinic Liver Cancer (BCLC) stage B hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) are recommended to undergo transcatheter arterial chemoembolization (TACE). However, TACE in combination with radiofrequency ablation (RFA) is not inferior to surgical resection (SR), and the benefits of surgical resection (SR) for BCLC stage B HCC remain unclear. Hence, this study aims to compare the impact of SR, TACE+RFA, and TACE on analyzing overall survival (OS) in BCLC stage B HCC. Methods: Overall, 428 HCC patients were included in BCLC stage B, and their clinical data and OS were recorded. OS was analyzed by the Kaplan-Meier method and Cox regression analysis. Results: One hundred forty (32.7%) patients received SR, 231 (53.9%) received TACE+RFA, and 57 (13.3%) received TACE. The OS was significantly higher in the SR group than that in the TACE+RFA group [hazard ratio (HR): 1.78; 95% confidence incidence (CI): 1.15-2.75, p=0.009]. The OS was significantly higher in the SR group than that in the TACE group (HR: 3.17; 95% CI: 2.31-4.36, p<0.0001). Moreover, the OS was significantly higher in the TACE+RFA group than that in the TACE group (HR: 1.82; 95% CI: 1.21-2.74, p=0.004). The cumulative OS rates at 1, 3 and 5 years in the SR, TACE+RFA, and TACE groups were 89.2%, 69.4% and 61.2%, 86.0%, 57.9% and 38.2%, and 69.5%, 37.0% and 15.2%, respectively. After propensity score matching, the SR group still had a higher OS than those of the TACE+RFA and TACE groups. The TACE+RFA group had a higher OS than that of the TACE group. Conclusion: The SR group had higher OS than the TACE+RFA and TACE groups in BCLC stage B HCC. Furthermore, the TACE+RFA group had higher OS than the TACE group.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiao-Yan Meng ◽  
Xiu-Ping Zhang ◽  
Hong-Qian Wang ◽  
Weifeng Yu

Abstract Background Whether anesthesia type is associate with the surgical outcome of Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) patients with portal vein tumor thrombus (PVTT) remains to be determined. This study aims to investigate the impact of volatile inhalational anesthesia (INHA) versus total IV anesthesia (TIVA) on the survival outcomes in HCC patients with PVTT. Methods A cohort of in-patients whom were diagnosed of HCC with PVTT in Eastern Hepatobiliary Surgery Hospital, Shanghai, China, from January 1, 2008 to December 24, 2012 were identified. Surgical patients receiving the INHA and TIVA were screened out. The overall survival (OS), recurrence-free survival (RFS) and several postoperative adverse events were compared according to anesthesia types. Results A total of 1513 patients were included in this study. After exclusions are applied, 263 patients remain in the INHA group and 208 in the TIVA group. Patients receiving INHA have a lower 5-year overall survival rate than that of patients receiving TIVA [12.6% (95% CI, 9.0 to 17.3) vs. 17.7% (95% CI, 11.3 to 20.8), P=0.024]. Results of multivariable Cox-regression analysis also identify that INHA anesthesia is significantly associated with mortality and cancer recurrence after surgery compare to TIVA, with HR (95%CI) of 1.303 (1.065, 1.595) and 1.265 (1.040, 1.539), respectively. Subgroup analysis suggested that in more severe cancer patients, the worse outcome related to INHA might be more significant. Conclusion This retrospective analysis identifies that TIVA has better survival outcomes compare to INHA in HCC patients with PVTT. Future prospective researches are urgent to verify this difference and figure out underlying causes of it.


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