Articles related to LIVER CANCER

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The meta-analysis included data from nearly 13,000 patients across 30 published trials. Grade 3 or 4 AEs occurred in nearly 70% of patents receiving TKIs compared with 37% for those receiving ICIs.

In patients with NETs with distant metastasis, 90Y radioembolization (90Y RE) might be an important treatment option; however, data to support clinical benefits are scarce. The authors purposed to analyze the use of 90Y RE in NET patients with hepatic metastases in an international, multicenter retrospective analysis. In reviewing response data, they conclude that 90Y RE could be an important alternative to peptide receptor radionuclide therapy as second-line treatment in patients with progressive liver-dominant disease pretreated with somatostatin analogs.

Antihistamine use in patients with HBV, HCV, or dual virus infections was associated with approximately two-fold lower risk of HCC when compared with patients who did not use antihistamines, in a dose-dependent manner.

Recently, the ALBI (albumin-bilirubin) score has been developed as an HCC-specific refinement of the Child-Pugh (C-P) score. In this commentary, the authors summarize the limitations of the C-P score, which include subjectivity and inconsistency of versions, as well as lack of sensitivity in patients with mild liver dysfunction. In comparison, the ALBI score “is entirely objective, obviating any need for subjective assessment of clinical signs, that it is derived from an entirely HCC population and is a continuous score that readily lends itself for assessment of changes in liver reserve over time.”

A potentially practice-changing clinical trial for first line therapy is the first to show that the combination of two immunotherapy medications is an effective treatment for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). The HIMALAYA study evaluated combination immunotherapy (IO-IO), durvalumab with tremelimumab, as frontline therapy in patients with unresectable HCC. Overall survival was significantly improved with the IO-IO combination compared with sorafenib monotherapy (16.4 vs 13.8 months; hazard ratio [HR], 0.78; 96% CI, 0.65-0.92; P =.0035). Early results of the phase three LAUNCH trial are also promising. This trial compared the combination of lenvatinib with transarterial chemoembolization (TACE) to lenvatinib alone in an Asian population with advanced HCC. The lenvatinib-TACE group achieved a higher median overall survival (17.8 vs. 11.5 months and median progression-free survival (10.6 vs. 6.4 months). Muhammad Shaalan Beg, MD, director for GI Medical Oncology at UT Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas summarizes these and other takeaways from emerging research on advanced HCC presented at the recent ASCO GI Symposium.