Methods:  A prospective database was used to identify those patients who were treated with either locoregional therapy (n = 128) or supportive care (n = 92). Survival analysis was performed

for groups matched by CLIP score at presentation. Comparison of important prognostic factors was undertaken and univariate and multivariate analysis was performed to assess determinants of survival. Results:  Use of locoregional therapies was only associated with a survival benefit in patients with a CLIP score of 1 or 2. In this group, the median survival in patients who received locoregional therapies was 25.0 months (95% confidence interval 22.7–27.4) compared with 8.9 months (95% confidence interval 7.3–10.5) for supportive care (P = 0.001). For patients MK-8669 purchase with CLIP scores of 3 or greater, no survival benefit of locoregional therapies was observed. Multivariate analysis revealed locoregional intervention, CLIP score, tumor symptoms, α-fetoprotein level, bilirubin and alkaline phosphatase level as independent prognostic indicators. Conclusion:  Locoregional therapies should be targeted find more specifically to patients with non-advanced hepatocellular carcinoma as assessed

by validated scoring systems. Use of these therapies in patients with advanced disease does not appear to be associated with a survival benefit and may expose patients to unnecessary harm. “
“Chronic infection with hepatitis C virus (HCV) decreases health-related quality of life (HRQOL). The present study was planned to investigate the impact of HRQOL of patients with chronic

hepatitis C (CHC) on the outcomes of therapy with pegylated interferon and ribavirin (RBV), in addition to IL28B polymorphisms. The present study enrolled 228 CHC patients and assessed their HRQOLs prospectively with the 36-item short-form health survey. The patients with CHC have lower physical HRQOL see more status than the general population (P = 0.037, the Z-test). The patients with advanced liver diseases exhibited further decreases in HRQOL (P = 0.036, Spearman’s rank correlation coefficient). The score of total HRQOL was significantly lower in the group with sustained virological response (SVR) to the therapy with pegylated interferon and RBV than the non-SVR group (P = 0.031, the Mann–Whitney U-test), with significantly lower scores of mental component and its comprising subscales in the SVR group. Stepwise multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that low HRQOL score ≤ 400 points was significantly associated with SVR (odds ratio = 2.4, P = 0.013), independently from high platelet counts, low HCV RNA, favorable single-nucleotide polymorphism type of IL28B, and HCV serotype 2. The patients with low HRQOL score will have significantly less decrease in HRQOL score by 4 weeks of the treatment than those with high HRQOL score at baseline (P = 0.0045).