Defining prognostic factors of survival after external beam radiotherapy treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma with lymph node metastases

To identify independent predictors of survival in patients with lymph node (LN) metastases from hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) after external beam radiotherapy (EBRT). There were 191 patients with LN metastases from HCC received EBRT enrolled in the study cohort. EBRT was designed to focus on the LNs and a median dose of 50 Gy (range 40–60 Gy) was delivered. Treatment response was assessed by the WHO response criteria. Factors such as demographic data, tumor characteristics, and treatment modalities were determined before EBRT. Predictors of survival were identified by univariate and multivariate analysis. The median survival was 8.0 months for all patients. Factors including Child-Pugh status (p = 0.009), intrahepatic tumor control (p = 0.015), LN location (p = 0.015), and response to EBRT (p