An observational study of donafenib as adjuvant therapy to prevent hepatocellular carcinoma recurrence after curative surgery.

Abstract

e16227 Background: The five-year recurrence rate of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) after hepatic resection is as high as 70% and remains a major clinical challenge. Many investigators have suggested adjuvant therapy to prevent HCC recurrence, and several promising outcomes have been reported. Donafenib has been approved as a standard treatment for patients with unresectable HCC in China. Here, we describe our preliminary results regarding the efficacy and safety of donafenib as an adjuvant therapy for patients with HCC after hepatectomy. Methods: This was an observational study of patients with HCC following hepatectomy treated with donafenib in routine practice at Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hospital, Sun Yat-sen University. The enrolled patients were 75 years or younger, had been diagnosed with HCC, showed no evidence of recurrence at radiological follow-up within one month after hepatectomy, and had at least one high recurrence risk factor, such as tumor diameter ≥5 cm, tumor number ≥2, microvascular invasion, or serum a-fetoprotein level before surgery ≥400 ng/mL. All of the patients had adequate hematologic, hepatic, and renal functions. The primary endpoint was recurrence-free survival (RFS), and the secondary endpoints included 6- and 12-month RFS rates, overall survival, and adverse events. Results: Seventeen patients were enrolled in this study. The median age was 56 years (range, 40–72), 88.2% were males, 82.4% with HBV, 17.6% had preoperative serum a-fetoprotein levels ≥400 ng/mL, 35.3% had tumor diameters ≥5 cm, 29.4% had tumor numbers ≥2, and 29.4% had microvascular invasion. The median follow-up time for the entire patient cohort was 16 months (95% confidence interval [CI], 11.9–20.1), and 5 of 17 patients relapsed, with a recurrence rate of 29.4%. The median RFS was not reached; the 6- and 12-month RFS rates were 88.2% and 70.1%, respectively. Treatment-related adverse events (TRAEs) occurred in 82.4% of the patients, most of which were grades 1–2. Grade 3 TRAEs, including hand-foot skin reaction and rash, were observed in three (16.4%) patients. No grade 4 or 5 TRAEs occurred. Conclusions: The findings of the present study suggest that donafenib as adjuvant therapy may be a potentially effective way to prevent HCC recurrence after curative surgery. Our findings should be validated in a larger, prospectively evaluated sample. Clinical trial information: ChiCTR2200064030 .