Hepatic artery intervention combined with immune-targeted therapy is superior to sequential therapy in BCLC-C hepatocellular carcinoma

BACKGROUND: Hepatic artery intervention combined with immunotarget therapy exerts excellent disease control and prolongs survival. However, the arrangement of hepatic artery intervention and systemic therapy confuses clinical decisions. METHODS: A two-center, retrospective clinical study was approved by the Institutional Ethics Committee. From December 2018 to February 2022, patients with Barcelona Clinic Liver Cancer stage C (BCLC-C) hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) who received targeted therapy plus PD-1 inhibitors with or without hepatic artery intervention were included. According to the treatment mode, the patients were assigned to three groups: initial hepatic artery intervention combined with immunotarget therapy, immunotarget therapy sequential hepatic artery interventional therapy, and immunotarget therapy only. The survival, response, and adverse events were compared among the three groups. Subgroup analysis and univariate and multivariate prognostic analyses were also evaluated. RESULTS: The median follow-up time was 18.3 months (95% CI 16.7 to 20.0 months). A total of 163 patients with BCLC-C stage HCC were assigned to three groups: initial hepatic artery intervention plus PD-1 inhibitors plus targeted therapy (HPT, n = 66), PD-1 inhibitors plus targeted therapy followed by hepatic artery intervention (PTH, n = 56) and PD-1 inhibitors plus targeted therapy (PT, n = 41). The median progression-free survival was 8.37 months (95% CI 6.35–10.39) with HPT versus 5.3 months (95% CI 3.48–7.12) with PTH versus 6.33 months (95% CI 3.75–8.92) with PT. The progression-free survival of the HPT group was better than that of the PTH group (HR 0.66, 95% CI 0.45–0.97, p = 0.027) and PT group (HR 0.60, 95% CI 0.39–0.92, p = 0.01). The median overall survival was 14.6 months (95% CI 10.6–18.7) with HPT, 10.0 months (95% CI 8.2–11.8) with PTH and 11.3 months (95% CI 8.3–14.3) with PT. The 1-year overall survival (OS) rates in the HPT, PTH and PT groups were 50%, 33.9%, and 34.1%, respectively. Overall survival was significantly longer in the HTP group than in the PT group (HR 0.60, 95% CI 0.361–0.996, p = 0.032). Compared with the PTH group, the overall survival of the HTP group had a prolonged survival trend (HR 0.66, 95% CI 0.416–1.032, p = 0.059). All treatment modalities were deemed equally safe. Multivariate analysis suggested that the mode of treatment, albumin level, Child‒Pugh grade and hepatectomy history were independent prognostic factors for BCLC-C HCC patients. CONCLUSIONS: Initial hepatic artery intervention combined with immunotarget therapy gained survival benefits with tolerable side effects compared with immunotarget sequential hepatic artery intervention and immunotarget therapy alone. Multivariate analysis suggested that liver reserve function was closely correlated with prognosis. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s00432-022-04386-3.