A joint United Kingdom (UK) and Hong Kong (HK) study to determine prognostic factors for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) undergoing curative and palliative treatment.

Abstract

181 Background: There have been few international studies that systematically evaluate the impact of geographical region on the prognosis of HCC. Methods: Prospective cohorts of patients (pt) were accrued in UK (n=567; 2006-2011) and HK (n=517; 2007-2012). Clinical data were documented at baseline; treatments were decided by multidisciplinary teams at both centers. Results: The median follow-up time of the UK and HK cohort was 27.9 and 29.8 months, respectively. The median overall survival (OS) of the whole UK and HK cohort was 22.9 months and 8.6 months. In the HK cohort, 425 underwent palliative treatment (TACE, systemic agents or supportive care) and 92 had curative treatment (surgery and locoablation); in the UK cohort, 338 had palliative treatment and 228 underwent curative treatment. In the curative group, the median OS was 54.8 months in the UK cohort but has not yet been achieved in the HK cohort. For the palliative group, the median OS was 12.7 and 5.5 months in the UK and HK cohort respectively. In the palliative group, geographical difference was an independent prognostic factor (HK vs. UK, HR=2.0; p<0.0001). Other prognostic factors were mainly tumorous features and Child’s liver function (Table). In the curative group, neither geographical difference nor Child’s score were prognostic factors. Conclusions: Separate prognostic factors exist for curative and palliative treatment. Geographical differences need to be considered during design of clinical trials on novel agents where palliative treatments are investigated but not for surgery or locoablation. [Table: see text]