Ablation of Oligometastasis Combined With Lenvatinib and PD-1 Inhibitor for Advanced Hepatocellular Carcinoma

Ablation of Oligometastasis Combined With Lenvatinib and PD-1 Inhibitor for Advanced Hepatocellular Carcinoma: A Multicenter, Prospective, Phase II Study

Ablation has been an effective approach for treating intrathoracic metastases. However, for hepatocellular carcinoma with oligometastasis, ablation of metastases remains relatively unexplored.

Systemic therapy is the standard treatment for advanced hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) with metastasis. However, metastases with limited number (oligometastasis) can represent a subtype and transition point between localized disease and widespread metastases. Thus, eliminating metastases could be advantageous and beneficial to the prognosis if feasible and permitted. Image-guided ablation therapy, such as microwave ablation (MWA), radiofrequency ablation (RFA), and cryoablation, has attracted great interest as a minimally invasive approach against intrathoracic metastases. Recently, ablation has been used on patients with pulmonary metastases from various cancers. This technique yields high proportions of sustained complete responses and is associated with relatively low morbidity. Thus, we conduct this multicenter single arm study to explore the efficacy, safety of lenvatinib and PD-1 inhibitor with metastases-directed ablation in advanced HCC. This study focuses on the management of ablation of oligometastasis therapy combined with lenvatinib and PD-1 inhibitor. This study aims to evaluate the survival benefits of ablating oligometastasis for advanced HCC.

Inclusion Criteria:

1. diagnosis of primary HCC, confirmed histologically or clinically according to the criteria of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases 20;
2. presence of oligometastasis, the metastases found within three month of HCC diagnosis;
3. metastases with limited five sites and no more two organs involved, with a maximum diameter of ≤5cm;
4. receipt of Lenvatinib and PD-1 inhibitor as the first-line systemic therapy for a minimum of 3 months before study ablation, with controlled intrahepatic tumors and no progression of metastases. Controlled intrahepatic tumors were defined as those showing a partial or stable response according to the modified Response Evaluation Criteria in Solid Tumors (mRECIST);
5. undergone locoregional treatments, including transarterial artery chemoembolization (TACE) or hepatic arterial infusion chemotherapy (HAIC);
6. classified as Child-Pugh class A or B and having an Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG) performance status of 0 or 1;
7. no history of other malignancies.
8. life expectancy more than 3 months;
9. agreed to participated in this clinical trial;
10. Hemameba ≥3.0 x109/L, neutrophil ≥1.5x109/L, hemoglobin≥10.0 g/L, platelet≥100x 109/L, ALT; AST; bilirubin ≤1.5-fold normal, GFR≥60ml/min.

Exclusion Criteria:

1. recurrent HCC;
2. advanced HCC Lenvatinib and PD-1 inhibitor treated with as second systemic therapy;
3. age < 18 years or > 75 years;
4. advanced HCC with more than five metastases;
5. no response to Lenvatinib;
6. metastases size > 5 cm;
7. life expectancy less than 3 months.