All-cause hepatocellular carcinoma survival in the era of direct-acting antiviral therapy.

Abstract

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) cure with direct-acting antiviral (DAA) therapy improves survival in patients with HCV-related hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). We hypothesized that HCV-HCC survival has increased in the DAA era, more than other aetiologies of HCC. We aimed to evaluate survival following HCC diagnosis in the pre-DAA and DAA eras, across each aetiology of HCC. Patients with HCC at three tertiary referral hospitals were included retrospectively (January 2008 to December 2019). Patients were categorized as HCV-HCC, hepatitis B virus (HBV)-HCC, or non-viral HCC. For each aetiology, the risk of death following incident HCC among patients diagnosed in the DAA era (2015-2019) was compared with patients diagnosed in the pre-DAA era (2008-2014). Among 1161 patients, there were 422 (36%) patients with HCV-HCC, 227 (20%) with HBV-HCC, and 512 (44%) with non-viral HCC. In adjusted analysis, the risk of death was lower in patients with HCV-HCC diagnosed in 2015-2019, compared with patients diagnosed in 2008-2014 (adjusted hazard ratio [aHR]: 0.68; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.52-0.89; P=0.005). In contrast, there was no difference in the risk of death between time periods for patients with HBV-HCC (HR: 0.91; 95% CI: 0.64-1.29; P=0.602) or non-viral HCC on adjusted analysis (aHR: 0.92; 95% CI: 0.74-1.15; P=0.476). Although patients with HBV-HCC had better survival compared with patients with HCV-HCC in 2008-2014 (aHR: 0.74; 95% CI: 0.55-0.98; P=0.037), this difference disappeared in 2015-2019 (aHR: 1.26; 95% CI: 0.90-1.77; P=0.175). Hepatitis C virus-related HCC survival has increased in the DAA era, whereas adjusted survival remained stable for HBV-HCC and non-viral HCC.