Response Rate Correlates with the Conversion Rate in Patients with Advanced Hepatocellular Carcinoma Treated with Systemic or Hepatic Artery Infusion Chemotherapy: A Systematic Review.

UNLABELLED: <p>

Introduction

The appropriate regimen for induction therapy with the intent of conversion therapy for advanced hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is unknown. This study aimed to evaluate whether the overall response rate (ORR) of chemotherapy correlates with the conversion rate.

METHODS

The studies of phase 2/3 trials of systemic or hepatic artery infusion chemotherapy (HAIC) for patients with advanced HCC were searched. Spearman's correlation coefficient was calculated to measure the strength of the relationship between the conversion rate and the ORR.

RESULTS

A total of 42 patient groups from 32 trials were included in the analysis. The ORR and conversion rates in a total of 3,516 patients were 24.7% and 8.3%, respectively. The analysis of only the patient groups treated with 1st-line immune checkpoint inhibitors, tyrosine kinase inhibitors or HAIC revealed a strong correlation between the ORR and the conversion rate (ρ = 0.647, p = 0.0003). In addition, strong correlations between the ORR and median progression-free survival (PFS)/overall survival (OS) were observed (ρ = 0.772, p < 0.0001 and ρ = 0.754, p < 0.0001, respectively).

CONCLUSION

Because of the strong correlations of the ORR with the conversion rate and PFS/OS, regimens with high ORRs may be used for patients with advanced HCC who are potential candidates for conversion therapy. </p>.