A long-term study of the effects of antiviral therapy on survival of patients with HBV-associated hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) following local tumor ablation.

Authors

Hie-Won Hann, Thomas Jefferson UniversityFollow
Robert Coben, Thomas Jefferson UniversityFollow
Daniel Brown, Thomas Jefferson UniversityFollow
Laurence Needleman, Thomas Jefferson UniversityFollow
Ernest Rosato, Thomas Jefferson UniversityFollow
Albert Min, Albert Einstein University School of Medicine
Richard Hann, Thomas Jefferson UniversityFollow
Kyong Bin Park, Thomas Jefferson UniversityFollow
Stephen Dunn, Thomas Jefferson UniversityFollow
Anthony J. DiMarino, Thomas Jefferson UniversityFollow

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

4-2014

Comments

This article has been peer reviewed. It is the author’s final published version in Cancer Medicine

Volume 3, Issue 2, April 2014, Pages 390-396.

The published version is available at DOI: 10.1002/cam4.197 Copyright © Wiley

Abstract

The ultimate goal of antiviral therapy for chronic hepatitis B (CHB) is prevention of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Earlier we reported favorable effects of antiviral therapy on survival of HCC patients following curative tumor ablation (Int J Cancer online 14 April 2010; doi: 10.1002/ijc.25382). It was the first observation made in the United States. We now report 12 year follow-up of this patient group. CHB patients with no prior antiviral therapy with a single HCC (≤ 7 cm) were studied. All patients underwent local tumor ablation as their first option. Patients diagnosed before 1999 received no antiviral treatment while those diagnosed after 1999 received antiviral treatment. Survival between the treated and untreated groups was compared. Among 555 HCC patients seen at our clinic between 1991 and 2013, 25 subjects were eligible. Nine subjects (all male patients, median age 53 years [46-66]) did not receive antiviral therapy while 16 (14 male patients, median age 56 years [20-73]) received treatment. Between the two groups, there was no difference in their median tumor size and levels of alpha-fetoprotein and albumin. However, the survival was significantly different (P = 0.001): the median survival of the untreated was 16 months (3-36 months) while that of the treated was 80 months (15-152 months). Fourteen of 16 treated patients are alive to date with two longest survivors alive for ≥ 151 months. In conclusion, concomitant antiviral therapy for CHB patients with HCC reduces and prevents new/recurrent tumor and improves survival. This novel treatment strategy offers an alternative to liver transplantation in patients with HBV-associated HCC.

Recommended Citation

Hann, Hie-Won; Coben, Robert; Brown, Daniel; Needleman, Laurence; Rosato, Ernest; Min, Albert; Hann, Richard; Park, Kyong Bin; Dunn, Stephen; and DiMarino, Anthony J., "A long-term study of the effects of antiviral therapy on survival of patients with HBV-associated hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) following local tumor ablation." (2014). Department of Medicine Faculty Papers. Paper 170.
https://jdc.jefferson.edu/medfp/170

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.

PubMed ID

24519810