Traditional herbal medicine in preventing recurrence after resection of small hepatocellular carcinoma: a multicenter randomized controlled trial

BACKGROUND： Disease recurrence is a main challenge in treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma （HCC）. There is no generally accepted method for preventing recurrence of HCC after resection. OBJECTIVE： To compare the efficacy of a traditional herbal medicine （THM） regimen and transarterial chemoembolization （TACE） in preventing recurrence in post-resection patients with small HCC. DESIGN, SETTING, PARTICIPANTS AND INTERVENTIONS： This is a multicenter, open- label, randomized, controlled study, which was undertaken in five centers of China. A total of 379 patients who met the eligibility criteria and underwent randomization were enrolled in this trial. One hundred and eighty-eight patients were assigned to the THM group and received Cinobufacini injection and Jiedu Granule, and the other 191 patients were assigned to the TACE group and received one single course of TACE. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES： Primary outcome measures were the annual recurrence rate and the time to recurrence. Incidence of adverse events was regarded as the secondary outcome measure. RESULTS： Among the 364 patients who were included in the intention-to-treat analysis, 67 patients of the THM group and 87 of the TACE group had recurrence, with a hazard ratio of 0.695 （P = 0.048）. Median recurrence-free survival of the patients in the THM and TACE groups was 46.89 and 34.49 months, respectively. Recurrence rates at 1, 2 and 3 years were 17.7%, 33.0% and 43.5% for the THM group, and 28.8%, 42.5% and 54.0% for the TACE group, respectively （P = 0.026）. Multivariate analysis indicated that the THM regimen had a big advantage for prolonging the recurrence-free survival. Adverse events were mild and abnormality of laboratory indices of the two groups were similar. CONCLUSION： In comparison with TACE therapy, the THM regimen was associated with diminished risk of recurrence of small-sized HCC after resection, with comparable adverse events. TRIAL REGISTRTION IDENTIFIER： This trial was registered in the Chinese Clinical Trial Registry with the identifier ChiCTR-TRC-07000033.

Comparable effects of Jiedu Granule, a compound Chinese herbal medicine, and sorafenib for advanced hepatocellular carcinoma: A prospective multicenter cohort study

Objective:Sorafenib has been extensively used for the treatment of advanced hepatocellular carcinoma(HCC),and Chinese herbal medicine has also been used to manage advanced HCC.The present work evaluates the effectiveness and safety of Jiedu(JD)Granule,a compound of traditional Chinese herbal medicine,side-by-side with sorafenib for the treatment of advance HCC.Methods:Patients with advanced HCC receiving treatment with JD Granule or sorafenib were enrolled from December 2014 to March 2018.The primary endpoint was overall survival(OS).The secondary endpoints were progression-free survival(PFS)and safety.Propensity score matching(PSM)analysis was used to control for possible selection bias from the study group allocation process.Results:Of the 325 patients included,161 received JD Granule and 164 received sorafenib.No significant differences were found in OS or PFS among patients receiving JD Granule compared to sorafenib(P>0.05).Median OS of the two study groups was 6.83 months(95%confidence interval[CI]:5.83–9.47)in the group receiving JD Granule and 8 months(95%CI:6.67–9.80)in the group receiving sorafenib,with half-,1-and 2-year survival rates of 53.6%,31.2%and 13.2%vs 60.1%,35.5%and 14.2%,respectively.Even after PSM,the median survival time did not differ between the JD Granule group(9.03 months;95%CI:6.37–14.2)and the sorafenib group(7.93 months;95%CI:6.5–9.97),with comparable half-,1-and 2-year survival rates.The most common adverse events(AEs)were diarrhea(13.7%)and fatigue(5.6%)in the JD Granule group,and hand-foot skin reaction(46.3%)and diarrhea(36.6%)in the sorafenib group.The JD Granule was more cost-effective than sorafenib treatment for advanced HCC.Conclusion:Compared to sorafenib,JD Granule was more cost-effective and caused fewer AEs for the treatment of Chinese patients with advanced HCC.