TUESDAY, Feb. 17, 2015 (HealthDay News) -- For sorafenib-treated patients with hepatitis B virus-related hepatocellular carcinoma (HBV-related HCC), antiviral therapy with nucleoside analogues (NAs) is associated with improved survival, according to a study published online Jan. 30 in the Journal of Gastroenterology and Hepatology.
Li Xu, M.D., from the Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center in Guangzhou, China, and colleagues examined the role of antiviral therapy with NAs in 151 sorafenib-treated patients with HBV-related HCC. The authors compared survival, progression-free survival, and adverse events in patients treated with (88 patients) or without NAs (63 patients).
The researchers found that overall survival was significantly improved for patients treated with NAs versus those who received no NAs (median overall survival, 16.47 versus 13.10 months; P = 0.03). The risk of death was significantly reduced in patients treated with NAs versus those not receiving NAs (hazard ratio, 0.67; P = 0.04). Better survival improvement was seen for patients with Barcelona Clinic Liver Cancer (BCLC) stage C and patients with higher pre-sorafenib HBV-DNA level. For HBV-related HCC patients treated with sorafenib, antiviral therapy with NAs was one of the independent prognostic factors for overall survival.
"Antiviral therapy with NAs improved overall survival of HBV-related HCC patients treated with sorafenib, especially in patients with BCLC stage C disease and higher HBV-DNA level," the authors write.
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