Efficacy and safety of lenvatinib in patients with unresectable hepatocellular carcinoma previously treated with tyrosine kinase inhibitor / 临床肝胆病杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To investigate the efficacy and safety of lenvatinib in patients with unresectable hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) previously treated with tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI). Methods A retrospective analysis was performed for the clinical data of 76 patients with unresectable HCC who were treated with lenvatinib in Beijing Ditan Hospital, Capital Medical University, from January 2019 to January 2020, and according to the treatment method, they were divided into TKI previously untreated group with 49 patients and TKI treatment-experienced group with 27 patients. The patients were observed till one year after enrollment, adjustment of treatment regimen, tumor progression, or death. The two groups were compared in terms of progression-free survival (PFS) time, objective response rate (ORR), disease control rate (DCR), and incidence rate of adverse events. The t -test or the Wilcoxon rank-sum test was used for comparison of continuous data between two groups, and the chi-square test or the Wilcoxon rank-sum test was used for comparison of categorical data between two groups; the Kaplan-Meier method was used for survival analysis, and the log-rank test was used for comparison between groups. Results There were no significant differences between the TKI previously untreated group and the TKI treatment-experienced group in median PFS time (115 days vs 72 days, P =0.148), ORR (36.7% vs 18.5%, P =0.098), DCR (65.3% vs 55.6%, P =0.402), and incidence rates of grade ≥3 adverse events (24.5% vs 18.5%, P =0.550). Conclusion Patients with unresectable HCC previously treated with TKI can benefit from lenvatinib and have good safety, with similar results to those treated with TKI for the first time.