Safety and Efficacy of Lenvatinib in Very Old Patients with Unresectable Hepatocellular Carcinoma

Abstract

Background Data concerning the use of lenvatinib in very old patients (>= 80 years) are limited, although the incidence of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) in this patient population is constantly increasing. Objective This analysis aimed to evaluate the efficacy and safety of lenvatinib in a large cohort of very old patients (>= 80 years) with unresectable HCC. Patients and Methods The study was conducted on a cohort of 1325 patients from 46 centers in four Western and Eastern countries (Italy, Germany, Japan, and the Republic of Korea) who were undergoing first-line treatment with lenvatinib between July 2010 and February 2022. Patients were stratified according to age as very old (>= 80 years) and not very old (< 80 years). Results The median overall survival (OS) was 15.7 months for patients < 80 years old and 18.4 months for patients >= 80 years old [hazard ratio (HR) = 1.02, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.84-1.25, p = 0.8281]. Median progression free survival (PFS) was 6.3 months for patients < 80 years old and 6.5 months for patients >= 80 years old (HR = 1.07, 95% CI 0.91-1.25, p = 0.3954). No differences between the two study groups were found in terms of disease control rate (DCR; 80.8% versus 78.8%; p = 0.44) and response rate (RR; 38.2% versus 37.9%; p = 0.88). Patients < 80 years old experienced significantly more hand-foot skin reaction (HFSR) grade >= 2 and decreased appetite grade >= 2. Conversely, patients >= 80 years old experienced significantly more fatigue grade >= 2. In the very old group, parameters associated with prognosis were AFP, albumin-bilirubin (ALBI) grade, Barcelona Clinic Liver Cancer (BCLC), and Child-Pugh score. BCLC stage was the only independent predictor of overall survival (OS; HR = 1.59, 95% CI 1.11-2.29, p = 0.01115). Conclusions Our study highlights the same efficacy and safety of lenvatinib between very old and not very old patients.