Treatment patterns for hepatocellular carcinoma in patients with Child–Pugh class B and their impact on survival: A Korean nationwide registry study

There are no established practice guidelines for treating hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) in patients with Child-Turcotte-Pugh (CTP) class B liver function. To evaluate the impact of various initial treatment modalities on these patients, we conducted a nationwide registry study in Korea.Treatment patterns and overall survival (OS) of patients with HCC and CTP class B according to initial treatment modalities in each Barcelona Clinic Liver Cancer (BCLC) stage were analysed using data from the Korean Primary Liver Cancer Registry between 2008 and 2016. Initial treatment modalities were categorized as standard, alternative treatment and supportive care only, referring to the 2018 BCLC guidelines, irrespective of liver function.Of the 2318 newly diagnosed Korean patients with HCC and CTP class B, 29.7%, 60.3% and 15.6% of patients in BCLC stages A, B and C, respectively, underwent standard treatment. Adjusted OS hazard ratios of alternative treatment referring to standard treatment were 1.55 (95% confidence interval [CI], 1.25-1.94; p < .001) in BCLC-A, 0.82 (95% CI, 0.43-1.56; p = .550) for curative alternative treatment, 1.89 (95% CI, 0.97-3.68; p = .059) for non-curative alternative treatment in BCLC-B, 0.40 (95% CI, 0.28-0.56; p < .001) for curative alternative treatment, 0.84 (95% CI, 0.69-1.02; p = .076) for non-curative alternative treatment for BCLC-C.Regardless of BCLC stages, chemoembolization was conducted the most among patients with CTP class B. Treatment in line with the BCLC treatment algorithm resulted in favourable OS outcomes, except for those with BCLC stage C, as systemic therapy showed poor OS.