Adjuvant immune checkpoint inhibitors associated with higher recurrence-free survival in postoperative hepatocellular carcinoma (PREVENT): a prospective, multicentric cohort study.

BACKGROUND: Adjuvant therapy may improve survival of patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) after curative resection. This study compared safety and efficacy outcomes between patients at high risk of recurrence who received different types of adjuvant therapy or no such therapy after hepatic resection for HCC. METHODS: Recurrence-free survival (RFS), overall survival, and adverse events were compared among patients who received adjuvant immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) alone, ICIs with tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs), or no adjuvant therapy between 13 March 2019 and 19 March 2022. This study was registered on ClinicalTrials.gov (NCT05221398). RESULTS: Of the 517 patients in final analysis, 432 (83.6%) received no adjuvant therapy, 53 (10.2%) received ICIs alone, and 32 (6.2%) received adjuvant ICIs and TKIs. During median follow-up of 34.0 months (IQR 27.8 to 41.6 months), RFS was significantly longer among patients who received either type of adjuvant therapy (25.2 months, 95%CI 16.4-34.0) than among those who received none (16.1 months, 95%CI 12.9-19.4), and this difference remained significant after propensity score matching (HR 0.52, 95%CI 0.35-0.76, P = 0.004). Overall survival was unaffected by either type of adjuvant therapy, while significant difference was observed between patients who received adjuvant therapy or not after propensity score matching (HR 0.31, 95%CI 0.17-0.59, P = 0.005). The rate of grade 3 or 4 adverse events was similar between the two types of adjuvant therapy. CONCLUSIONS: ICIs alone or with TKIs may improve RFS of patients at high risk of HCC recurrence after curative resection.

Correlation between serum prealbumin and prognosis of patients with hepatocellular carcinoma after hepatectomy.

OBJECTIVE: To determine whether serum prealbumin levels are associated with long-term survival after hepatectomy in patients with primary hepatocellular carcinoma(HCC). METHODS: A consecutive sample of 526 patients with HCC who underwent potentially curative hepatectomy from August 2007 to August 2010 was retrospectively analyzed. Patients were classified as having normal or reduced serum prealbumin based on cut-off values of 200 or 182 mg/L. RESULTS: Multivariate analysis identified the preoperative level of serum prealbumin as an independent prognostic factor of long-term survival (P < 0.05): Survival was significantly better for those with normal levels than for those with reduced levels, based on either cut-off value. Similar results were observed in subgroup analyses based on the degree of cirrhosis, level of ɑ-fetoprotein and Barcelona Clinic Liver Cancer stage. CONCLUSIONS: Preoperative level of serum prealbumin may be useful for predicting long-term survival in patients with HCC after hepatectomy.