Factors affecting survival after concurrent chemoradiation therapy for advanced hepatocellular carcinoma: a retrospective study

Concurrent chemoradiation therapy (CCRT) followed by hepatic arterial infusional chemotherapy (HAIC) was reported to be effective for advanced hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) with portal vein thrombosis. However, transarterial chemoembolization (TACE) is not preferred in this setting. The aim of this study was to assess the factors affecting survival after CCRT, including additional TACE during repeated HAIC. Thirty-eight patients who underwent CCRT as the initial treatment for Barcelona Clinic Liver Cancer stage C HCC with vascular invasion between 2009 and 2016 were reviewed retrospectively. During CCRT, 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) was infused via chemoport during the first and last five days of five weeks of external beam radiation therapy. After CCRT, repeated HAIC with cisplatin and 5-FU was performed monthly. Nineteen patients (50%) underwent additional TACE between repeated HAICs. Factors related to overall survival and progression free survival (PFS) were analyzed. The mean age of patients was 55 years (male:female, 33:5). Underlying liver diseases were hepatitis B, hepatitis C and non-B/C in 29, 1 and 8 patients, respectively. The median radiation dose was 4500 cGy. The objective response (OR) rate at one months after CCRT was 36.8%. The median PFS was 7.4 (range, 1.8 − 32.1) months. The median overall survival was 11.6 (range 2.8-65.7) months. Achieving an OR after CCRT (hazard ratio [HR], 0.028; P < 0.001), additional TACE (HR, 0.134, P < 0.001), and further rounds of HAIC (HR, 0.742, P = 0.001) were independent significant factors related to overall survival. The overall survival duration of patients with an OR after CCRT (median 44.2 vs. 6.6 months, P < 0.001) and additional TACE (median 19.8 vs. 9.1 months, P = 0.001) were significantly greater than those without an OR after CCRT or additional TACE. Patients who achieved an OR after CCRT, underwent additional TACE, and were subjected to repeated rounds of HAIC following CCRT showed better survival after CCRT for advanced stage of HCC with vascular invasion. A further prospective study is needed to confirm the positive effect of additional TACE after CCRT. The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s13014-017-0873-1) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.