Toxicity profile, palliative care and hospice utilization of geriatric patients with hepatocellular carcinoma treated with atezolizumab plus bevacizumab in the veteran health administration.

Abstract

e24022 Background: Over the last decade, the incidence of Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) has increased in the geriatric population. Atezolizumab plus Bevacizumab (A+B) has become an established systemic therapy for patients with HCC. Even with the aging population and elevated prevalence of HCC amongst Veterans, limited studies have explored the safety of A+B in geriatric patients. This study aims to investigate the toxicity profile of A+B in the geriatric population as well as Palliative Care and Hospice utilization within the Veteran Health Administration (VHA). Methods: Data were extracted from the electronic medical records (EMR) for adults (deceased and living) with ICD9 and ICD10 HCC codes that received 1st line systemic therapy with A+B within the VHA between December 1, 2019, and March 1, 2023. Descriptive statistics were used to summarize baseline characteristics, toxicity profile and Palliative Care and Hospice enrollment between 3 populations aged < 65, 65-69, and > 70 years. A significant p-value of ≤0.05 was used. Results: In total, 332 patients were included in the study; 206 were deceased. Approximately 70% of patients were > 65 years. The majority in each age group were non-Hispanic white males, ECOG ≥1, CPS class A and BCLC score of C. Veterans > 70, significantly had less cirrhosis caused by viral hepatitis(p < 0.0001) and no prior local therapy (p = 0.002). There was no significant difference in either median A+B doses, cessation of therapy due to toxicities or median reported toxicities of any grade, as reported in Table 1. Most common toxicities in all age groups were fatigue, decreased appetite, proteinuria and transaminitis. There was a significant difference in Hospice enrollment in deceased patients (p = 0.027), with Veterans > 70 years more likely to enroll in Hospice. Conclusions: This is the first known study that reports geriatric advanced HCC patients with A+Z toxicities in VHA patients. This study demonstrates that A+Z can be used safely in geriatric patients. Further quality improvements projects need to be implemented to improve number and timing Hospice utilization.[Table: see text]