ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Selective internal radiation therapy (SIRT) is applied to hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), a disease with increased incidence in the elderly. However, SIRT has rarely been specifically studied in elderly population. The aim of this study was to investigate efficacy and safety of SIRT in elderly HCC patients. METHODS: We studied retrospectively data from patients treated with SIRT for HCC. Clinical and laboratory data were retrieved. We used 70-years old as threshold between younger and elderly populations, to compare outcomes. RESULTS: A total of 222 patients treated with SIRT for HCC were studied, of which 134 patients were younger and 88 older. Median overall survival (OS) was not significantly different between younger and elderly group: 15.6 months (95% CI, 11.7-19.5) and 14.8 months (95% CI, 9.4-20.3) (P = 0.86). Age was not associated with OS in multivariable analysis, with a Hazard ratio of 1.09 (95% CI, 0.82-1.45, P = 0.55). Results of progression-free survival and responses were also similar in both groups. Toxicities were similar between the two groups, including the occurrence of radioembolization-induced liver disease (11.5 vs. 11.4%, P = 0.97). CONCLUSION: SIRT appears to be a well-tolerated treatment with the same efficacy in elderly compared to younger patients in HCC. Our study is the first to study its impact with glass microspheres. This warrants confirmation in large prospective studies.
Subject(s)
Carcinoma, Hepatocellular , Liver Neoplasms , Aged , Humans , Carcinoma, Hepatocellular/pathology , Liver Neoplasms/pathology , Microspheres , Prospective Studies , Retrospective Studies , Treatment Outcome , Yttrium Radioisotopes/adverse effectsABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Selective internal radiation therapy (SIRT) is an innovative treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). The albumin-bilirubin (ALBI) score was designed to better evaluate liver functions in HCC. METHODS: We studied, retrospectively, data from patients treated with SIRT for HCC. The primary endpoint was the occurrence of radioembolization-induced liver disease (REILD). The secondary endpoint was overall survival (OS). RESULTS: 222 patients were studied. The ALBI grade 1 patients had significantly less REILD (3.4%) after the first SIRT than ALBI grade 2 or 3 patients (16.8%, p = 0.002). Of the 207 patients with data, 77 (37.2%) had a worsening of ALBI grade after one SIRT. The baseline ALBI grade was significantly associated with OS (p = 0.001), also in the multivariable analysis. The ALBI grade after the first SIRT was significantly associated with OS (p ≤ 0.001), with median OS of 26.4 months (CI 95% 18.2-34.7) for ALBI grade 1 patients (n = 48) versus 17.3 months (CI 95% 12.9-21.8) for ALBI grade 2 patients (n = 123) and 8.1 months (CI 95% 4.1-12.1) for ALBI grade 3 patients (n = 36). CONCLUSIONS: The baseline ALBI grade is a strong predictor of REILD. The baseline ALBI score and variations of ALBI are prognostic after SIRT.
ABSTRACT
PURPOSE: Selective internal radiation therapy (SIRT) has been proposed for combination with immunotherapy to treat hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). However, the toxicity of radiation toward lymphocytes is understudied after SIRT. The aim of this study was to describe variations of lymphocytes following SIRT and their potential prognostic impact. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This is a retrospective cohort study of 164 patients treated with SIRT for HCC. Lymphocyte count and neutrophil-to-lymphocyte (NLR) ratio were evaluated at baseline and at 3 months. Primary endpoint was overall survival (OS). RESULTS: Median baseline lymphocyte count was 1.32 Giga/Liter (G/L) (standard deviation (SD) 0.64) at baseline versus 0.68 G/L (SD 0.41) at 3 months. The mean decrease of lymphocyte count was - 44% (standard deviation 0.24). At 3 months, only 21% of patients had normal (1 G/L or more) lymphocyte count, and 23% had lymphocyte count < 0.5 G/L. NLR at 3 months was significantly and independently associated with OS in multivariate Cox model. Median OS was 9.9 months (95% confidence interval (CI) 6.2-13.5) for patients with NLR at 3 months higher than 7.2 compared to 19.9 months in patients with an NLR lower that the 7.2 threshold (95% CI 16.3-23.3) (p = 0.003). CONCLUSIONS: The decrease in lymphocytes was frequent and deep after SIRT for HCC. NLR increase at 3 months was associated with poor survival.