Abstract

Background & Aims: Information about the impact of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) in patients with liver cancer is lacking. This study characterizes the outcomes and mortality risk in this population.

Methods: Multicenter retrospective, cross-sectional, international study of liver cancer patients with SARS-CoV-2 infection registered between February-December 2020. Clinical data at SARS-CoV-2 diagnosis and outcomes were registered.

Results: Two-hundred-fifty patients from 38 centers were included, 218 with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), 32 with intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (iCCA). Median age was 66.5 and 64.5 years, and 84.9% and 21.9% had cirrhosis in the HCC and iCCA cohorts, respectively. Patients had advanced cancer stage at SARS-CoV-2 diagnosis in 39.0% of the HCC and 71.9% of the iCCA patients. After a median follow-up of 7.20 [IQR:1.84–11.24] months, 100 (40%) patients have died,48% of the deaths were SARS-CoV-2-related. Forty (18.4%) HCC patients died within 30-days. The death rate increase was significantly different according to the BCLC stage [6.10%(95%CI 2.24–12.74), 11.76%(95%CI 4.73–22.30), 20.69%(95%CI 11.35–31.96), and 34.52%(95%CI 17.03–52.78) for BCLC 0/A, B, C and D respectively; p=0.0017]. The Hazard Ratio was 1.45 (95%CI 0.49–4.31; p=0.5032) in BCLC-B vs 0/A, and 3.13 (95%CI 1.29–7.62; p=0.0118) in BCLC-C vs 0/A in the Competing risk Cox regression model. Nineteen out of 32 iCCA (59.4%) died, 12 deaths related to SARS-CoV-2 infection.

Conclusions: This is the largest cohort of liver cancer patients infected with SARS-CoV-2. It characterizes the 30-day mortality risk of SARS-CoV-2 infected patients with HCC during this period.

Rights

The accepted author manuscript is restricted to University of Glasgow Repository staff until 24 May 2023.

Cite as

Muñoz‐Martínez, S., Sapena, V., Forner, A., Bruix, J., Sanduzzi‐Zamparelli, M., Ríos, J., Bouattour, M., El Kassas, M., Leal, C., Mocan, T., Nault, J., Alves, R., Reeves, H., Fonseca, L., García‐Juárez, I., Pinato, D., Varela, M., Alqahtani, S., Alvares‐da‐Silva, M., Bandi, J., Rimassa, L., Lozano, M., González Santiago, J., Tacke, F., Sala, M., Anders, M., Lachenmayer, A., Piñero, F., França, A., Guarino, M., Elvevi, A., Cabibbo, G., Peck‐Radosavljevic, M., Rojas, Á., Vergara, M., Braconi, C., Pascual, S., Perelló, C., Mello, V., Rodríguez‐Lope, C., Acevedo, J., Villani, R., Hollande, C., Vilgrain, V., Tawheed, A., Ferguson Theodoro, C., Sparchez, Z., Blaise, L., Viera‐Alves, D., Watson, R., Carrilho, F., Moctezuma‐Velázquez, C., D'Alessio, A., Iavarone, M. & Reig, M. 2022, 'Outcome of liver cancer patients with SARS‐CoV‐2 infection', Liver International. http://eprints.gla.ac.uk/271704/

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Last updated: 16 June 2022
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