Prognostic Stratification of Initial Treatments for Hepatocellular Carcinoma Using a Modified Borderline Resectable...

Although Japanese expert consensus introduced the borderline resectable (BR) criteria, additional classification is considered necessary for clinical practice. This study aimed to evaluate the prognostic predictive value of the modified BR (mBR) criteria.

From 2009 to 2024, 1056 treatment-naïve patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and Child-Pugh A were enrolled (median age: 73 years). To obtain the mBR criteria, the original BR classification was modified by separately considering patients with extrahepatic metastasis (EHM, termed "boldly BR") (n = 42) while categorizing the rest into resectable (n = 790), mBR1 (n = 95), and mBR2 (n = 129) groups. Treatments were classified as Cur (curative: surgical resection or radiofrequency ablation), NC (non-curative: other treatment), or BSC (best supportive care). Clinical features and prognosis according to mBR criteria were analyzed retrospectively.

Overall survival (OS) was stratified according to the mBR criteria (resectable/mBR1/mBR2/BBR = 113.3/49.4/30.1/10.3 months). Albumin-bilirubin scores worsened progressively, according to the criteria (-2.70/-2.54/-2.40/-2.37), and elevated tumor marker levels (alpha-fetoprotein [AFP] levels ≥ 100 ng/mL: 18.5%/35.8%/46.5%/59.5%; AFP-L3 ≥ 10%: 19.8%/40.9%/54.7%/66.7%; and des-gamma-carboxy prothrombin levels ≥ 100 mAU/mL: 35.8%/67.4%/81.4%/90.5%, each p < 0.001) occurred more frequently in advanced groups. The Cur group in the resectable category showed significantly better OS compared with the NC and BSC groups (121.3/48.1/35.3 months, p < 0.001). Similar trends occurred in mBR1 (66.5/34.2/5.2 months) and mBR2 (57.3/22.4/7.5 months). Conversely, although some patients in the curative group had long-term survival, treatment modality and baseline characteristics showed no prognostic impact on BBR (15.0/10.3/9.0 months).

Other than for patients with EHM, aggressive surgical resection may be considered a potential initial therapeutic option for advanced HCC; however, direct comparisons with other treatment modalities were not performed in this study.