Outcome of liver cancer patients with SARS-CoV-2 infection: An International, Multicentre, Cohort Study.

BACKGROUND & AIMS: Information about the impact of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) in patients with liver cancer is lacking. This study characterizes the outcomes and mortality risk in this population. METHODS: Multicentre retrospective, cross-sectional, international study of liver cancer patients with SARS-CoV-2 infection registered between February and December 2020. Clinical data at SARS-CoV-2 diagnosis and outcomes were registered. RESULTS: Two hundred fifty patients from 38 centres were included, 218 with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and 32 with intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (iCCA). The median age was 66.5 and 64.5 years, and 84.9% and 21.9% had cirrhosis in the HCC and iCCA cohorts respectively. Patients had advanced cancer stage at SARS-CoV-2 diagnosis in 39.0% of the HCC and 71.9% of the iCCA patients. After a median follow-up of 7.20 (IQR: 1.84-11.24) months, 100 (40%) patients have died, 48% of the deaths were SARS-CoV-2-related. Forty (18.4%) HCC patients died within 30-days. The death rate increase was significantly different according to the BCLC stage (6.10% [95% CI 2.24-12.74], 11.76% [95% CI 4.73-22.30], 20.69% [95% CI 11.35-31.96] and 34.52% [95% CI 17.03-52.78] for BCLC 0/A, B, C and D, respectively; p = .0017). The hazard ratio was 1.45 (95% CI 0.49-4.31; p = .5032) in BCLC-B versus 0/A, and 3.13 (95% CI 1.29-7.62; p = .0118) in BCLC-C versus 0/A in the competing risk Cox regression model. Nineteen out of 32 iCCA (59.4%) died, and 12 deaths were related to SARS-CoV-2 infection. CONCLUSIONS: This is the largest cohort of liver cancer patients infected with SARS-CoV-2. It characterizes the 30-day mortality risk of SARS-CoV-2 infected patients with HCC during this period.

Experience with Sorafenib in 3 Hospitals in Sao Paulo.

INTRODUCTION AND AIM: Sorafenib has been the standard of care for first-line treatment of advanced hepatocellular carcinoma, a complex disease that affects an extremely heterogenous population. Thereby requiring multidisciplinary individualized treatment strategies that match the disease characteristics and the patients' specific needs. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Data for 175 patients who received sorafenib for hepatocellular carcinoma in three different hospitals in Sao Paulo, Brazil over a span of nine years were retrospectively analyzed. RESULTS: The median age was 62 years. Percentages of patients with Child-Pugh A, B and C liver cirrhosis were 61%, 31% and 5%, respectively. Approximately half of the patients had Barcelona Clinic Liver Cancer stage B disease, and the other half had stage C. The median treatment duration was 253 days. Sorafenib dose was reduced to 400 mg/day in 41% of the patients due to toxicity. Overall objective response rate as per Response Evaluation Criteria in Solid Tumors and its modified version was 39%. Patients who received transarterial chemoembolization (TACE) at any point during sorafenib therapy were significantly more likely to experience an objective response. After a median follow-up of 339 days, the median overall survival was 380 days. Child-Pugh cirrhosis, tumor response and concomitant chemoembolization were independent prognostic factors for overall survival in multivariate analysis. CONCLUSION: Our results suggest that, in experienced hands, sorafenib therapy may benefit carefully selected hepatocellular carcinoma patients for whom other therapies are initially contraindicated, including those patients with Child-Pugh B liver function and those patients who are subsequently treated with concomitant TACE.