Prognostic significance of Albumin-Bilirubin score changes in patients treated with systemic therapy for recurrent hepatocellular carcinoma after liver resection.

Résumé

PURPOSE: To clarify the characteristics of patients who received systemic therapy for recurrent hepatocellular carcinoma after liver resection and evaluate the associated prognostic factors.METHODS: We retrospectively analyzed data from 177 hepatocellular carcinoma patients with recurrence after liver resection; 79 received tyrosine kinase inhibitors or immune checkpoint inhibitors. Prognostic factors were analyzed in the patients who received systemic therapy.RESULTS: The median survival time after the initiation of systemic therapy was 23.3 months among the patients who received such therapy. These patients had more advanced disease at recurrence than those who did not receive systemic therapy. In the systemic therapy group, a deterioration of liver function relative to the preoperative status, expressed as the change in the albumin-bilirubin score (≥ 0.469 vs.