Consideration of role of radiotherapy for lymph node metastases in patients with HCC : Retrospective analysis for prognostic factors from 125 patients

Objectives: To evaluate the role of radiotherapy (RT) for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) patients with abdominal lymph node (LN) metastasis at our institution in the past 7 years. Methods and Materials: We identified 125 patients with HCC metastasis to regional LNs treated with or without external beam RT (EBRT) between 1998 and 2004. Clinical characteristics collected included α-fetoprotein status, γ-glutamyltransferase, status of intrahepatic tumors (size and number), previous therapy for intrahepatic tumors, metastatic LN status (location, number, and size), tumor thrombi, and Child-Pugh classification. Of the 125 patients, 62 received local limited EBRT and were classified as the EBRT group. They received locoregional LN irradiation. The tumor dose ranged from 40 to 60 Gy in daily 2.0-Gy fractions, 5 times weekly. Another 63 patients, who did not receive EBRT, were selected from hospitalized patients in the same period and were classified as the non-EBRT group. The parameters studied included survival rates and tumor response to EBRT both as demonstrated by clinical symptoms and as seen on CT. The Kaplan-Meier method was used to evaluate the survival rates, and the Cox regression model was used to identify predictors of outcome. Results: After EBRT, partial responses and complete responses were observed in 37.1% and 59.7% of patients, respectively. The median survival was 9.4 months (95% confidence interval 5.8–13.0) for the EBRT group and 3.3 months (95% confidence interval, 2.7–3.9) for the non-EBRT group ( p Conclusion: Lymph node metastasis from HCC is sensitive to EBRT. EBRT with 25 fractions of 2 Gy is an effective palliative treatment for patients with LN metastases from HCC presenting with good performance status and may prolong overall survival.