Efficacy of local‐regional treatment plus sorafenib in intermediate‐stage hepatocellular carcinoma patients refractory to transarterial chemoembolization

Sorafenib treatment is suggested for patients with intermediate-stage hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) refractory to transarterial chemoembolization (TACE). This study aimed if combining local-regional sorafenib adds benefit who had tumor progression after three sessions of TACE within 12 months. We retrospectively analyzed the outcomes alone and combined therapies in HCC using inverse probability weighting (IPTW). Forty-nine were enrolled; 28 treated alone, whereas 21 received or radiofrequency ablation (RFA) addition sorafenib. After IPTW, two groups well-balanced most baseline characteristics. The overall response rate (ORR) disease control (DCR) significantly higher sorafenib-combination group than sorafenib-alone (ORR: 41.3% vs 10.0%, P = .001; DCR: 44.6% 22.1%). PFS was also longer (median 5.3 3.0 months, HR, 0.55; 95% CI, 0.35-0.88). risk extrahepatic metastases lower (HR, 0.04; 0.01-0.50). incidence adverse events comparable between groups. Loco-regional therapy may be still able exert additional survival taking TACE-refractory showing a better without causing significant liver dysfunction. Further investigations identify will more likely from combination are needed.