Hepatic arterial infusion chemotherapy for extensive liver metastases of breast cancer: efficacy, safety and prognostic parameters.

PURPOSE: Hepatic arterial infusion chemotherapy (HAIC) is an option for patients with liver-predominant metastatic breast cancer (LMBC), when no further systemic treatment is available. But systematic reports are limited. Here we conducted a retrospective analysis of LMBC patients treated at an expert center.

METHODS: Individual patient data were retrieved from the clinical data base of the West German Cancer Center. Primary endpoints included hepatic response (RECIST), progression-free survival (PFS), overall survival (OS), and toxicity. A score based on LDH, AST, ALT and bilirubine was developed to estimate the hepatic metastasis load.

RESULTS: Data from 70 consecutive patients were included. All patients were heavily pretreated (median 7 treatment lines for LMBC). HAIC protocols included mitomycin/5-FU (70%), mitomycin (14.3%), melphalan (12.9%) and 5-FU (7.1%), with selection based on patient characteristics. Partial hepatic remission was obtained as best response in 14 patients (20.0%), stable disease in 27 patients (38.6%), and progressive disease in 29 patients (41.4%). Median PFS and OS from initiation of HAIC were 2 (range 0-10) and 7 months (range 1-37). Mainly hepatic and hematopoietic HAIC-related toxicities were observed; there was no treatment-related death. The hepatic metastasis score effectively separated two prognostic groups: Patients with a score <3 had significantly superior PFS (15 vs 7 weeks, p = 0.017) and OS (12 vs 5 months, p = 0.002).

CONCLUSION: HAIC offers a safe and effective salvage treatment strategy in heavily pretreated patients with LMBC and no further treatment options. The hepatic metastasis score may help to identify patients with sustained clinical benefit.