Comparative effectiveness and survival benefit of various treatment modalities in HCC: A SEER-Medicare analysis.

Abstract

319 Background: In the United States, the incidence of HCC has increased from 1.6 per 100,000 in 1975 to 4.9 per 100,000 in 2005. Care for HCC patients remains specialized and complex with transplant and surgery offering the only potential for long survival. However no comparative effectiveness of various treatment modalities across various stages of HCC exists. Methods: Medicare enrollees, older than 65 with an initial diagnosis of primary HCC between 2000-2007 were followed up through the end of 2009. For patients with stages I, II, III, and unstaged, data were obtained from the SEER and linked Medicare databases, with claims generated from Medicare parts A and B. Multivariate Cox proportional hazards models were used to assess overall and HCC related mortality in relation to receipt of various/no treatments, adjusting for concomitant therapies, demographics, general health status (Charlson comorbidity index), and liver conditions, moderate-severe liver disease. Results: Distributions across stages: males 64-71%, Caucasians 72-77%, African Americans 8-10%, Hispanics 12-14%; a majority (72-75%) was age 65-84; Hepatitis C was the most prevalent (17-41%). Conclusions: Compared to untreated patients, improved all-cause and HCC-related mortality was observed in all stages in the following order: transplant, surgical resection, liver directed therapy, and chemotherapy. Greater impact on HHC-related mortality was seen across all treatment groups. [Table: see text]