Patients with a serum ��FP of ��200ng/L at baseline and with a decline in ��FP of ��20% after 4 weeks of sorafenib therapy were classified as ��FP responders.Toxicity was assessed based on information noted in the medical records and graded according to NCI-CTCAE v3.0 [10].Comorbidity was scored Regorafenib price according to the Charlson comorbidity classification [11].2.4. Statistical AnalysisThe primary end points were overall survival (OS) (death from all causes) and time on treatment (TOT). The analysis of objective tumor response was performed according to an intention to treat analysis (ITT) as well as an analysis of evaluable patients only, that is, patients treated for at least 12 weeks. The Kaplan-Meier method was used for the survival analysis.

A Cox proportional hazard analysis of baseline patient and disease-specific characteristics was performed to assess a potential correlation to survival outcome and followed by a multivariate Cox regression analysis.The level of statistical significance was 5%. All P values are two sided and reported with 95% confidence intervals. All statistical analyses were carried out using SPSS software.3. Results3.1. Patient CharacteristicsA total of seventy-six patients were consecutively treated at the Departments of Oncology at Rigshospitalet, Copenhagen, and at Aarhus University Hospital, Aarhus, Denmark, between August 2007 and April 2009 and followed until 2011. Median follow-up time was 6.3 months, ranging from 4 to 777 days.Table 1 shows baseline patient and disease characteristics together with the results of the univariate survival analysis of potential prognostic factors.

Seventy-eight per cent of the patients were in PS 0-1, and 57% had a well preserved liver function (CP-A). Alcohol was the primary cause of liver disease, followed by HCV and HBV. A large proportion of patients had highly advanced disease with macroscopic vascular invasion (46%) and extrahepatic metastases (43%). The majority of patients (76%) suffered from one or more serious comorbid disorders with the most frequent being cardiovascular disease and diabetes mellitus.Table 1Baseline patient and tumor characteristics in sorafenib treated HCC patients with corresponding median overall survival (mOS, days), 95% confidence intervals (CI), and P values of the univariate analysis.3.2. Treatment OutcomeThe median OS (mOS) for the entire cohort of patients was 5.4 months, ranging Anacetrapib from 4 days to more than 777 days. As illustrated in Figure 1, patients in PS 0-1 had a mOS of 6.2 months, whereas patients in PS 2-3 had a mOS of 1.8 months (P = 0.005). CP-A patients had a mOS of 6.6 months versus 3.