Efficacy and safety of HAIC alone vs. HAIC combined with lenvatinib for treatment of advanced hepatocellular carcinoma

To investigate efficacy and safety of hepatic arterial infusion chemotherapy combined with lenvatinib (HAIC-Len) and HAIC alone for the treatment of advanced hepatocellular carcinoma (Ad-HCC). Totally 349 patients with Ad-HCC participated in the research from February 2018 to October 2020. On the basis of propensity score matching (PSM), 132 and 110 cases were assigned to the HAIC group and the HAIC-Len group, respectively, with a ratio of 1:1. Progression-free survival (PFS), overall survival (OS), and complications were compared between two groups. The Kaplan-Meier method and log-rank test were utilized to estimate cumulative OS and PFS. Additionally, uni- and multi-variate Cox regression models were employed to identify significant independent factors. The median follow-up period in this study was set to be 20.8 months. Following PSM, the one-, two- and three-year cumulative OS rates in the HAIC-Len and HAIC groups were 63.6%, 12.1%, and 3.0%, and 47.2%, 11.8%, and 2.7%, respectively, with a significant difference (P < 0.001). The first-three-year cumulative incidence rates PFS in the HAIC-Len and the HAIC groups were 15.2%, 1.5%, and ND, and 11.8%, 4.5%, and 3.6%, respectively, with no significant difference detected (P = 0.092). BMI (HR 0.709. 95% CI 0.549, 0.915. P = 0.008) and AST (HR 1.005. 95% CI 1.003, 1.007. P < 0.001) represented independent prognostic factors for OS. Additionally, the two groups exhibited no significant difference in the incidence rates of adverse events. HAIC-Len significantly improved survival outcomes of patients with Ad-HCC and demonstrated acceptable toxicity compared to HAIC alone.