Outcomes of Sorafenib for Recurrent Hepatocellular Carcinoma After Liver Transplantation in the Era of Combined and Sequential Treatments.

Background: Sorafenib and other tyrosine kinase inhibitors are the current standard of care for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) recurring after liver transplantation (LT). Sorafenib is sometimes regarded as a scarcely effective treatment in this setting because of some studies showing a short overall survival (OS) indirectly compared with historical series of nontransplanted patients. Additional data from multicenter prospective studies are needed before drawing definite conclusions.
Methods: Retrospective analyses of a large prospective multicenter dataset of sorafenib-treated HCC patients to report the characteristics and outcomes of LT recipients (n = 81).
Results: At the baseline, LT patients had key prognostic features (high prevalence of metastatic disease, and low prevalence of macrovascular invasion, α-fetoprotein >400 ng/mL, ALBI grade >1, performance status >0) that differentiated them from the typical populations of non-LT patient reported in clinical trials and observational studies. Moreover, a relevant proportion of LT patients received concurrent locoregional (12.3%) and postprogression systemic treatments (34.2%), resulting in a median OS of 18.7 mo.
Conclusions: Multimodal and sequential treatments are relatively frequent in post-LT HCC patients and contribute to a remarkable OS, together with favorable baseline characteristics. Despite the impossibility of matching with non-LT patients, our results indirectly suggest that the metastatic nature of post-LT recurrence and concurrent antirejection regimens should not discourage systemic treatments.
Competing Interests: F.T. has served as a consultant for Bayer, Ipsen, and Eisai and an advisory board member for Laforce. M.I.: speaking/teaching, consultant, and the advisory board for Bayer, Gilead Sciences, BMS, Janssen, Ipsen, MSD, BTG-Boston Scientific, AbbVie, Guerbet, and EISAI. M.D.G. received honoraria for serving on advisory boards for Eisai and Bayer. F.T. is an advisor and a consultant for Bayer and an advisory board member for Sirtex, Alfasigma, and Bristol-Myers Squibb. F.P. is a consultant for AstraZeneca, Bayer AG, EISAI, GE, and Tiziana Life Sciences; Speaker bureau honoraria: Bayer AG, Bracco, EISAI, and Laforce; research contract with Esaote. A.G. has served as a consultant for Bayer. The other authors declare no conflicts of interest.
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