Experience of Hepatocellular Cancer Therapy with Multikinase Inhibitors in the Republic of Bashkortostan

Abstract

Introduction. Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the most common primary malignant neoplasm of the liver. During the early stages, HCC is asymptomatic, which makes X-ray examination a particularly important diagnostic tool. According to WHO data, the mortality rate from HCC was 782,000 in 2018. HCC is associated with a number of risk factors: a high viral load, liver cirrhosis, detected HBeAg and elevated serum HBsAg levels. Inhibitors of tyrosine kinase receptors increase the overall survival and progression-free survival rates in patients with metastatic HCC. In this article, we conduct an analysis of results of the REFLECT study obtained for Russian patients by the Republican Clinical Oncological Dispensary, Ufa.Materials and methods. The experimental group included 9 patients (52.9%) receiving Lenvatinib. The control group included 8 patients (47.1%)) underwent therapy with Sorafenib at a dose of 800 mg per day 7 (41.17%) patients had a history of chronic hepatitis, of which hepatitis B and chronic hepatitis C was confirmed in 6 and 1 cases, respectively.Results and discussion. Over the period from 2017 up to the present, progression-free survival was observed in three patients (17.6%), of which 2 and 1 received Lenvatinib and Sorafenib, respectively. Overall survival was 10.5 months. The median overall survival rate in the experimental and control groups was 9.8 and 11.2 months, respectively. These parameters are considered comparable, provided that the sample was small.Conclusions. The use of Lenvatinib demonstrated the efficacy comparable to that of Sorafenib in terms of the overall survival rate in patients with inoperable HCC. Lenvatinib allowed statistically and clinically significant improvement in the progression-free survival and time to progression to be achieved.