Background: The presence of portal vein tumor thrombosis (PVTT) is a poor prognostic factor for patients with hepatocellular carcinomas (HCC). The purpose of this study was to determine the treatment effect of irradiation in combination with hepatic arterial infusion chemotherapy (HAIC) for these patients.
Methods: We retrospectively examined the outcome of 67 HCC patients with PVTT of the main trunk or first branch who received HAIC alone or with concurrent irradiation for PVTT (CCRT).
Results: Thirty-four patients received HAIC, and 33 patients received CCRT. The time to progression (TTP) of PVTT in the CCRT group was significantly longer than in the HAIC group (p < 0.01), and the TTP of intrahepatic nodules in the CCRT group tended to be longer than in the HAIC group (p = 0.06). The objective response rates of intrahepatic nodules (52 vs. 18%, p < 0.01) and PVTT (45 vs. 18%, p = 0.01) were both significantly higher in the CCRT group than in the HAIC group, respectively. No significant difference in overall survival was found between the two groups (p = 0.14); however, the median survival time in the CCRT group was longer than that in the HAIC group (12.4 vs. 5.7 months, respectively).
Conclusions: CCRT might be a promising treatment for advanced-stage HCC with PVTT. CCRT prolonged the TTP of intrahepatic nodules and PVTT, and it improved the objective response rate of intrahepatic nodules and PVTT.