Hepatic arterial infusion chemotherapy with or without lenvatinib for unresectable cholangiocarcinoma: a single-center retrospective study

Aim: The purpose of this study is to compare the efficacy and safety of hepatic arterial infusion chemotherapy (HAIC) of oxaliplatin, fluorouracil and leucovorin (FOLFOX) plus lenvatinib and FOLFOX-HAIC alone in patients with unresectable cholangiocarcinoma. Patients & methods: Retrospective analysis of patients receiving FOLFOX-HAIC with or without lenvatinib. Results: Forty-one patients were included, with 22 patients receiving HAIC alone and 19 patients receiving HAIC plus lenvatinib. Combination treatment significantly prolonged overall survival and progression-free survival compared with HAIC alone. Grade 1-2 adverse events were more frequent in the combination group but manageable. No severe AEs or treatment-related deaths were reported. Conclusion: FOLFOX-HAIC plus lenvatinib has the potential to be a treatment option for unresectable cholangiocarcinoma. This study compared the effectiveness and safety of two treatments for unresectable cholangiocarcinoma (CCA), a type of liver cancer. The first treatment involved a combination of hepatic arterial infusion chemotherapy (FOLFOX-HAIC) and lenvatinib, a targeted therapy drug. The second treatment was FOLFOX-HAIC alone. The study included 41 patients with CCA, and the results showed that the group receiving FOLFOX-HAIC plus lenvatinib had significantly longer overall survival (32.0 months) and progression-free survival (20.0 months) compared with the group receiving FOLFOXHAIC alone. The combination treatment had manageable side effects, although some mild adverse events were more common in the combination group. The study suggests that FOLFOX-HAIC plus lenvatinib could be a potential treatment option for unresectable CCA. Combining FOLFOX-HAIC with lenvatinib improved the survival of patients with unresectable cholangiocarcinoma (CCA), and had manageable side effects. Therefore, the combined treatment shows promise as a treatment option for unresectable CCA.