Journal of Liver

Abstract

Could Sorafenib Disclose New Prospects as Bridging Therapy to Liver Transplantation in Patients with Hepatocellular Carcinoma?

Alessandro Vitale, Freddy Salinas, Giacomo Zanus, Giuseppe Lombardi, Marco Senzolo, Francesco Russo and Umberto Cillo

Background-Aim: There are few data on the use of sorafenib as bridging therapy for patients with Hepatocellular Carcinoma (HCC) waiting for Liver Transplantation (LT). Methods: Six HCC patients were treated with sorafenib before LT at our Institution following the Italian Drug Agency guidelines: they had well compensated cirrhosis (Child-Pugh class A), intermediate stage HCC, good general conditions (performance status 0) and they were not suitable for loco-regional therapies. Results: Three patients received sorafenib until LT, whereas the other three cases required treatment discontinuation before LT. During the post-surgery period no deaths and anastomotic complications were observed. The four patients receiving Sorafenib for more than 2 months before LT were recurrence-free 27 to 41 months after surgery. Conversely, tumor recurrence leading to patient death was found in the other 2 cases. Conclusion: We think that these findings justify the start of a phase II study in a larger patient population.