Clinical characteristics and outcomes of candidates for second‐line therapy, including regorafenib and ramucirumab, for advanced hepatocellular carcinoma after sorafenib treatment

Aim This study aimed to investigate the clinical characteristics and outcomes of candidates for second‐line therapy, including regorafenib and ramucirumab, for advanced hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) after sorafenib treatment. Methods Of 122 patients, 103 were radiologically confirmed as progressive disease (PD) (sorafenib‐refractory group), and 19 discontinued sorafenib therapy due to adverse events prior to radiologic PD (sorafenib‐intolerant group). Patients in the sorafenib‐refractory group were divided into two subgroups each, according to their eligibility for second‐line treatment (second‐line‐in and ‐out group), regorafenib (RESORCE‐in and ‐out group), or ramucirumab (REACH‐2‐in and ‐out group). Results Patients included in the non‐candidate group were those with α‐fetoprotein level