Clinical outcome and prognostic factors in hepatocellular carcinoma patients with bone metastases medicated with zoledronic acid

AimsWe retrospectively analyzed the clinical outcome and prognostic parameters in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and bone metastases who had received treatment with zoledronic acid (ZOL). MethodsNinety-nine HCC patients with bone metastases who had been treated with ZOL were enrolled in this retrospective cohort study. We analyzed the prognostic factors, including serum N-telopeptide of type I collagen (NTX) levels, as bone metabolism markers. ResultsThe median overall survival (OS) time was 11.5months. Child-Pugh grade A (P=0.004) and intrahepatic tumor stage (IHTS) T0-3 (P=0.010) correlated significantly with favorable OS. In 46 patients with grade A and T0-3, receiver operating characteristic curve analysis defined 16nmolBCE/L serum NTX as the cut-off level for median OS. Multivariate analysis identified baseline serum NTX <16nmolBCE/L (P=0.045) as the only significant and independent determinant of OS. ConclusionLow baseline serum NTX level correlated with favorable outcome in bone metastatic HCC patients with Child-Pugh grade A and IHTS T0-3 treated with ZOL.