Prognostic factors and effect of radiotherapy for patients with bone metastasis from primary liver cancer

Objective: To evaluate the prognosis factor and outcome of radiotherapy for patients with bone metastasis from primary liver cancer. Methods: The data of 105 patients with bone metastasis from primary liver cancer treated between Oct. 1996 and Aug. 2004 were retrospectively analyzed. All bone metastases received radio- therapy in conventional fractions with a dose of 2 Gy/Fx, with a median of 40 Gy/20Fx. The primary lesion was treated with either surgical resection or TACE (transcatheter hepatic arterial chemoembolization). Statistical analysis was done using the Package for Social Sciences, Version 12.0. Survival rates were obtained by Kaplan-Meier method, univariate analysis by Logrank, multivariate analysis by Cox regression. Results: The 1-, 2- and 3-year cumulative survival rates were 21.9%, 5.6%, 4.2%, respectively. The control of intrahepafic lesion, resection of intrahepatic lesion, serum r-GT level and AFP level of bone metastasis, soft tissue around the bone lesions, and other distant metastasis were independent prognostic factors (P < 0.05). Conclusion: Even though the long-term survival is poor in liver cancer patients with bone metastasis, its bone lesion is sensitive to EBRT (external-beam radiotherapy), which results in palliative relief of pain. (authors)