Clinical usefulness of geriatric assessment in elderly patients with unresectable hepatocellular carcinoma receiving sorafenib or lenvatinib therapy

BACKGROUND: Therapeutic strategies for unresectable hepatocellular carcinoma (u‐HCC) in geriatric patients are important for real‐world practice. However, there remain no established biomarkers or therapeutic strategies regarding the best second‐line agent after atezolizumab plus bevacizumab therapy. AIM: In this study, we investigated the usefulness of modified Geriatric 8 (mG8) score in examining elderly patients (≥75 years old) with unresectable hepatocellular carcinoma (u‐HCC) using sorafenib or lenvatinib as first‐line therapy. METHODS AND RESULTS: This study assessed 101 elderly patients with u‐HCC for their mG8 score (excluding elements of age from 8 items) and classified them into 2 groups according to their mG8 score: ≥11 as the high‐score group and ≤ 10 as the low‐score group. Among those taking sorafenib, no significant differences were noted in overall survival (OS) and progression free survival (PFS) between low and high mG8 score groups. Only modified albumin–bilirubin (ALBI) grade (2b/3 vs. 1/2a: HR 0.34; 95% CI, 0.17–0.69; p = .0029) was significantly associated with OS. Among those taking lenvatinib, patients with a high mG8 score (n = 26) had longer survival than those with a low mG8 score (n = 10) (20.0 months vs. 7.7 months: HR 0.31, 95% CI 0.11–0.89; p = .029). Intrahepatic tumor volume (<50% vs. ≥50%: HR 16.7; 95% CI, 1.71–163; p = .016) and α‐fetoprotein (AFP) (<400 vs. ≥400: HR 3.38; 95% CI 0.84–19.7; p = .031) remained significant factors independently associated with OS. CONCLUSIONS: The mG8 score may contribute to making a decision when considering either sorafenib or lenvatinib as a treatment option for u‐HCC in elderly patients.