Prognostic Impact of Surgical Intervention After Lenvatinib Treatment for Advanced Hepatocellular Carcinoma

Background With the introduction of new molecular-targeted agents, an increasing number of patients with advanced hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) are benefiting from salvage interventions; however, the actual rate of conversion surgery and its prognostic advantages remain unclear. Methods The clinical outcomes of 107 consecutive patients who underwent lenvatinib treatment for advanced HCC were reviewed and the efficacy of additional therapy, including surgery, was investigated. Results Of the 107 patients who were initially unsuitable for curative-intent therapy or transarterial chemoembolization (TACE), 54 (50.5%) received further therapy after lenvatinib treatment (surgery [ n = 16] and TACE or other treatments [ n = 38]). Of the 16 patients who received surgical intervention, R0 resection was achieved in 9 (8.4%) patients. Survival analysis confirmed that successful conversion to R0 resection was associated with a longer time to treatment failure (hazard ratio [HR] 0.04, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.01–0.29; p = 0.002) and better disease-specific survival (HR 0.04, 95% CI 0.01–0.30; p = 0.002) compared with no additional treatment, while additional treatment other than surgery or R2 resection was associated with only a marginal or no prognostic advantage. Multivariate analysis confirmed that a decrease in plasma des-gamma-carboxyprothrombin levels compared with baseline levels (odds ratio 22.22, 95% CI 3.42–144.29; p = 0.001) was significantly correlated with successful R0 resection after lenvatinib treatment, irrespective of the tumor response as assessed by imaging analysis. Conclusions In selected patients with advanced HCC, conversion surgery after lenvatinib treatment may offer significant survival benefit as long as R0 resection is achieved.