Survival following palliative external-beam radiotherapy of locally advanced and metastatic liver cancer

Aim: The goal of this study was to identify prognostic factors of survival in patients receiving palliative external-beam radiotherapy (EBRT) for advanced liver cancer. Patients and Methods: Seventeen patients irradiated for advanced liver cancer were retrospectively evaluated. Fourteen patients had metastatic disease, three had locally advanced disease. Six variables were investigated for survival: age at EBRT, time from liver cancer diagnosis to EBRT, number of involved metastatic sites, gender, Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG) performance score, radiation dose. Results: On univariate analyses, time from liver cancer diagnosis to EBRT >12 months (p=0.040), only 0-1 metastatic sites (p=0.003) and ECOG performance score 1-2 (p<0.001) were positively correlated with survival. On Cox regression analysis, the number of metastatic sites (risk ratio=4.68, p=0.053) and ECOG performance score (risk ratio=4.68, p=0.056) showed a strong trend for association with survival. Conclusion: Predictors of survival were found that can facilitate choosing the optimal treatment for individual patients with liver cancer assigned to palliative EBRT.