title: Long-term survival of a HCC-patient with severe liver dysfunction treated with sorafenib.
abstract: Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the most common primary cancer of the liver. Prognosis and treatment options are stage dependent. In general, prognosis of patients with unresectable HCC is poor, especially for those patients with impaired liver function. Whereas treatment with the novel molecular tyrosine kinase inhibitor sorafenib (Nexavar) was shown to result in prolonged survival in patients with preserved liver function, its' possible application in HCC-patients with strongly impaired liver function has not been clearly assessed. Here, we report on a 47-year-old male patient who presented with Child-Pugh class C liver cirrhosis and multifocal, non-resectable HCC. The patient was treated for 27 mo with Sorafenib, which was not associated with major drug-related side effects. During treatment, a reduction in tumour size of 24% was achieved, as assessed by regular CT scan. Moreover, within the 27 mo interval of stable tumour disease, liver function improved from Child-Pugh class C to class A.
authors.affiliation: Christoph Roderburg, Jhenee Bubenzer, Michael Spannbauer, Nicole do O, Tom Ludde, Christian Trautwein, Jens J Tischendorf, Department of Medicine III, University of Aachen (RWTH), Pauwelstraße 30, Aachen 52074, Germany.
authors.forename: Christoph
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Roderburg
authors.forename: Jhenee
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Bubenzer
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Spannbauer
authors.forename: Nicole
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: do O
authors.forename: Andreas
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Mahnken
authors.forename: Tom
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Ludde
authors.forename: Christian
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Trautwein
authors.forename: Jens J
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Tischendorf