Potential efficacy of therapies targeting intrahepatic lesions after sorafenib treatment of patients with hepatocellular carcinoma

BACKGROUND: We investigated the contribution of subsequent therapy for advanced hepatocellular carcinoma refractory or intolerant to sorafenib. Further, we investigated the impact of sorafenib on overall survival using individual data. METHODS: We reviewed the medical records of patients with advanced hepatocellular carcinoma treated with sorafenib. Survival after sorafenib treatment and overall survival were defined as the time when we discovered that patients were either refractory or intolerant to sorafenib and the period from the start of sorafenib treatment, respectively, until death during the study. We compared patients’ prognoses according to their subsequent treatment as follows: group A, therapies targeting intrahepatic lesions; group B, systemic therapies alone; group C, no subsequent therapy. We used linear regression analysis to determine whether there was an association with survival after sorafenib treatment and with overall survival. RESULTS: Of 79 patients, 63 (79.7 %) received one or more subsequent therapies (44 and 19 patients in groups A and B, respectively). The five patients who survived more than two years after sorafenib treatment was discontinued responded to therapies targeting intrahepatic lesions. The median survival times of groups A, B, and C were 11.9 months, 5.8 months, and 3.6 months, respectively. Multivariate analysis revealed that group A, Child-Pugh score, serum α-fetoprotein level, and cause of failure of sorafenib treatment were independent prognostic factors for survival after sorafenib treatment. Individual survival after sorafenib treatment correlated highly with overall survival. CONCLUSIONS: Targeting intrahepatic lesions may be useful for treating patients with advanced hepatocellular carcinoma patients after sorafenib treatment is discontinued. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12885-016-2380-4) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.