Tenofovir disoproxil fumarate as good as entecavir for patients with HBV-related liver cancer

Treatment with tenofovir disoproxil fumarate (TDF) yields similar rates of recurrence and overall survival as does entecavir in patients with hepatitis B virus (HBV)-related hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), according to a study.

For the study, data from the Taiwan Cancer Registry (2011–2016), which was linked to Taiwan National Health Insurance Research Database, were used. Researchers looked at a total of 7,107 patients with HBV-related HCC after curative hepatectomy.

Of the patients, 25.3 percent received treatment with entecavir or TDF after the surgical procedure. Propensity score overlap weighting identified 1,365 patients who used entecavir and 432 patients who used TDF for inclusion in the analyses.

Following hepatectomy, the recurrence rate was 14.87 per 100 person-years for the entecavir group and 9.25 per 100 person-years for the TDF group. The risk of recurrence did not significantly differ in the two treatment groups (hazard ratio [HR], 0.91, 95 percent confidence interval [CI], 0.69–1.19; p=0.479).

Likewise, the risk of all-cause mortality was similar in the entecavir and TDF group (HR, 0.67, 95 percent CI, 0.42–1.07; p=0.091).

In an analysis that considered early recurrence (<2 years) and late recurrence (≥2 years), the TDF and entecavir groups also showed similar performance. Subgroup analyses and sensitivity analyses yielded consistent results.