Sorafenib as an adjuvant therapy for resectable hepatocellular carcinoma: A single center experience

Resectable hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is currently treated with surgical resection without any adjuvant therapy. We sought to assess the value of sorafenib as an adjuvant treatment in that clinical setting.

Of a total of 30 patients, 16 underwent curative- intent liver resection for HCC and subsequently received adjuvant sorafenib, while 14 underwent surgery alone. Clinicopathological characteristics were analyzed and the impact of adjuvant sorafenib on overall survival (OS) was assessed.

The median follow up time was 38.2 months. The median patient age was 63.5 and 76.7% of them were male. The majority of patients had a solitary tumor (74.1%) with a median size of 7.75 cm. Five-year OS for the whole cohort was 60.2%. OS for patients who underwent only resection was 52.9 vs 68.1% for patients who underwent resection and received adjuvant sorafenib (p=0.19).

Sorafenib seems to be associated with an acceptable safety profile but does not confer any substantial clinical benefit in terms of survival in HCC patients who have undergone curative-intent liver resection.