Clinical result of stereotactic radiosurgery for spinal metastasis from hepatocellular carcinoma: comparison with conventional radiation therapy

We investigated the clinical outcome following stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS) for spinal metastasis from hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and compared it with that of conventional radiation therapy (cRT). Thirty-nine metastatic spine tumors from 27 HCC patients were treated with SRS from 2002 to 2011. Their medical records and radiological data were retrospectively analyzed. Median tumor volume was 49.7 cc, and a mean marginal dose of 28.7 Gy was delivered to the tumor mass. We analyzed overall survival (OS), local progression-free survival, and the rate of pain control following SRS. Factors relating to clinical outcomes were also investigated. Clinical results following cRT were obtained from 32 patients. The cRT protocol consisted of 30 Gy in 10 fractions or 39 Gy in 13 fractions. OS and local progression-free survival were compared between SRS and cRT. OS was a median of 7 months following SRS. Significant prognostic factors relating to OS included Child-Pugh class and Karnofsky performance scale. Tumor recurrence was noted in nine lesions during follow-up. The median local progression-free survival was 7 months. Previous irradiation was a significant prognostic factor for local recurrence (P = 0.043). The overall pain control rate was 85 % and no factors were found to be significantly correlated with the pain control rate. The median OS was 3 months in the cRT group and 7 months in the SRS group (P = 0.035). The median local progression-free survival was 2.0 months in the cRT group, and 7.0 months in the SRS group, which were significantly different (P = 0.033). SRS showed better local control than cRT in the treatment of HCC spinal metastasis.