Hepatocellular carcinoma: surgical resection versus surgical resection combined with pre- and post-operative locoregional immunotherapy-chemotherapy. A prospective randomized study

Abstract

Hepatocellular carcinoma remains a disease with poor prognosis. Liver resection, although the optimal method of management, is associated with a high incidence of intrahepatic tumour recurrence ranging between 50-70%, 12 to 18 months following surgery. This study assesses prospectively the results of liver resection as compared to liver resection combined with pre- and post-operative locoregional chemotherapy-immunotherapy in 40 patients suffering from hepatocellular carcinoma. Patients were randomly assigned to two groups. Group A (20 patients) had liver resection only, while Group B (20 patients) had liver resection combined with pre- and past-operative targeting locoregional chemotherapy-immunotherapy. Five (5) patients died in total: two from Group A and two from Group B, during the first 30 days following surgery due to reasons related to the procedure (post-operative liver failure in three, pulmonary embolism in one). The remaining patient from Group A died 10 months following liver resection due to intrahepatic tumour recurrence. From Group A, 17 patients are alive from 3 to 26 months after surgery. Of the 17 alive patients, 10 are free of disease and 7 show intrahepatic recurrence. Thus, tumour intrahepatic recurrence occurred in 8 patients of group A. From Group B, all 18 patients are alive and free of disease from 4 to 27 months after surgery. No patient died because of the disease nor has any patient shown intrahepatic tumour recurrence. As a conclusion of the present results, liver resection combined with pre- and post-operative targeting locoregional immunotherapy-chemotherapy appears to offer substantial advantages for patients undergoing surgery because of hepatocellular carcinoma.