Liver Cancer

The implementation of a multidisciplinary team, which has demonstrated a marked survival advantage compared with single-provider care, is critical in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), particularly as it relates to the evolving role of radiation, surgical resection, liver transplantation, and systemic treatment, explained Neehar Parikh, MD.

A number of treatment options exist for patients with localized hepatocellular carcinoma, including surgical resection, transplantation, ablation, stereotactic body radiotherapy,, and embolization.

A flood of targeted therapy and immunotherapy options to both the first- and second-line settings of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) has had significant implications on the treatment of patients in this space and will likely create challenges regarding sequencing, said Richard S. Finn, MD.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the combination of nivolumab (Opdivo) plus ipilimumab (Yervoy) for the treatment of previously treated patients with advanced hepatocellular carcinoma.

The FDA has granted an orphan drug designation to durvalumab (Imfinzi) and tremelimumab for the treatment of patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).

The FDA has granted a priority review to the combination treatment of nivolumab and ipilimumab to treat patients with advanced HCC.

The FDA approved ramucirumab (Cyramza) as a single-agent treatment for patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) with an alpha fetoprotein (AFP) of ≥ 400 ng/mL and have been previously treated with sorafenib (Nexavar).

Some groups are more prone to the disease than others.

Patients with previously untreated hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) lived twice as long if they responded to TKI therapy vs. patients who did not achieve an objective response.

A large pivotal phase III trial has been initiated to evaluate the potential for the first-line combination of cabozantinib (Cabometyx) and atezolizumab (Tecentriq) in comparison with standard-of-care sorafenib (Nexavar) for patients with advanced hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).

The FDA has granted pembrolizumab (Keytruda) an accelerated approval for the treatment of patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) who have previously received sorafenib (Nexavar), according to Merck, the manufacturer of the PD-1 inhibitor.

Regorafenib (Stivarga) maintained a prolonged overall survival (OS) benefit as second-line therapy for patients with advanced hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) in a 2-year updated analysis of key findings from the pivotal RESORCE trial.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved a supplemental new drug application for the multikinase inhibitor lenvatinib (Lenvima) for first-line treatment of patients with unresectable hepatocellular carcinoma.

The FDA has granted a breakthrough therapy designation to atezolizumab (Tecentriq) for use in combination with bevacizumab (Avastin) as a first-line treatment for patients with advanced or metastatic hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).

For patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) who have progressed on sorafenib, regorafenib has shown to be an effective second-line treatment. The FDA has granted the agent a priority review

The incidence of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) in patients with hepatitis B is still on the rise, making screening and surveillance in this population all the more important.

Regorafenib was found to improve overall survival by nearly 3 months for patients with previously treated hepatocellular carcinoma.