The use of portal vein embolization combined with lenvatinib and a PD-1 inhibitor to treat patients with initially unresectable hepatocellular carcinoma / 中华肝胆外科杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective:To study the safety and treatment outcomes of portal vein embolization (PVE) combined with lenvatinib plus an anti-programmed death-1(PD-1) antibody to treat patients with initially unreasectable hepatocellular carcinoma (uHCC).Methods:This study retrospectively analyzed the data of six patients with uHCC who received first-line combined systemic therapy with lenvatinib plus an anti-PD-1 antibody, and then underwent pre-hepatectomy PVE at the Department of Liver Surgery at Zhongshan Hospital, Fudan University from May 2019 to November 2020. All enrolled patients were males, aged (54.6±6.2) (ranged 46 to 63) years. Tumor response and liver volume were evaluated by medical imagings once every 2 months (±2 weeks) and evaluated using the Response Evaluation Criteria in Solid Tumours (version 1.1). Patients were followed-up by outpatient interviews or by phone calls to record their survival and tumor outcome status.Results:Three of the six enrolled patients had Barcelona Clinic Liver Cancer stage A and three had stage B disease. One patient achieved a partial response and five patients had stable diseases. The mean ± s. d. future liver remnant (FLR) percentage was (29.0±8.9) % before PVE and the combination therapy, and was (41.3±10.8) % before the last evaluation for liver surgery ( t=10.79, P<0.001). Hepatectomy was carried out in five patients, and one patient who failed to develop significant FLR hypertrophy did not undergo hepatectomy. Grade B post-hepatectomy liver failure and major postoperative complications (i.e. pleural effusion requiring additional percutaneous drainage) occurred in one patient. After a median post-operative follow-up of 4.5 (range: 1.0-12.3) months, all five patients were alive and were tumor free. Conclusion:PVE followed by hepatectomy is feasible in a uHCC patients receiving systemic therapy with lenvatinib and an anti-PD-1 antibody.