Surveillance, Diagnosis, and Treatment Outcomes of Hepatocellular Carcinoma in Japan: 2021 Update

Safety and efficacy of atezolizumab plus bevacizumab in elderly patients with hepatocellular carcinoma: A multicenter analysis

“…In the present study, we used IPW to the Kaplan-Meier analysis and Cox proportional hazards models analyses to adjust for potential imbalances between groups with elderly and non-elderly patients in overall survival and progression-free survival. Probabilities for elderly and non-elderly patients (propensities) were calculated by multiple logistic regression analysis with the following covariates, which were considered likely to be linked with prognosis in patients with advanced HCC: gender, Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group performance status (ECOG-PS), HCC etiology, Child-Pugh classification, BCLC classification, and history of systematic therapy [11,12,22]. All these variables were included, regardless of statistical significance.…”

“…Increased, from 63 (57–59) to 74 (67–80) years suggests that a quarter of patients who recently received a diagnosis of HCC were over 80 years old. In addition, Kudo [11] reported that the median overall survival for patients with all BCLC stages of HCC registered in Japan's nationwide follow‐up survey during the periods 1978–1980, 1981–1985, 1986–1990, 1991–1995, 1996–2000, 2001–2005, and 2006–2009 improved from 4 to 60 months, respectively. These findings strongly suggest that we frequently treat elderly patients with HCC who need various treatments, including systematic therapy, in clinical practice.…”

“…In Japan, aging is more remarkable. As a result, in Japan, the rate of age-adjusted HCC-related death has increased in recent decades [11].…”

Management of hepatocellular carcinoma in patients who are 70 years or older

“…The Japan Society of Hepatology published clinical guidelines with recommendation of ultrasonographic and biomarker screening as frequently as every 3–4 months in high-risk patients [ 21 ]. With superior surveillance, Japanese centers have been able to find 63.5% of 19,536 HCCs in a 2-year period with a solitary nodule, with 56.6% being less than 3 cm [ 22 ]. In a study of 1,797 patients diagnosed with surveillance from two US and two Japanese centers, the Japanese patients were diagnosed with smaller tumor size and less advanced stage and were more likely to undergo curative treatment [ 23 ].…”

Objective Response by mRECIST to Initial Lenvatinib Therapy Is an Independent Factor Contributing to Deep Response in Hepatocellular Carcinoma Treated with Lenvatinib-Transcatheter Arterial Chemoembolization Sequential Therapy

“…Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the most common primary liver malignancy and a leading cause of cancer-related deaths worldwide [ 1 , 2 ]. Curative therapies, such as resection and ablation, can improve the prognosis of patients with early stage HCC [ 3 , 4 , 5 ]. In contrast, patients with intermediate- or advanced-stage unresectable HCC (u-HCC) are usually treated with transcatheter arterial chemoembolization (TACE), molecular-targeted agents (MTAs), or immunotherapy [ 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 ].…”