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Table 1: A brief summary of previous reports of CR cases   such an approach can be regarded as safe, and thereby
          treated with sorafenib as a monotherapy for HCC     improves quality-of-life and reduces treatment costs for
          References        CR        Duration of    Relapse  patients in which a CR is achieved.
                           cases  treatment cessation
                                       (months)
                                                              Financial support and sponsorship
          So et al. [7]     1            6           No
          Kudo and Ueshima [5]  15       NA          No       Nil.
          Wang et al. [8]   1            16          No
          Sacco et al. [9]  1            ≥  6        No       Confl ict of interest
          Inuzuka et al. [10]  1         8           No       There is no conflict of interest.
          CR: complete remission; HCC: hepatocellular carcinoma; NA: not available
                                                                REFERENCES
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          sorafenib therapy because he could not afford the treatment   1.   Llovet JM, Ricci S, Mazzaferro V, Hilgard P, Gane E, Blanc JF, de
          cost. Up to April 30, 2015, he had CR of tumor status for   Oliveira AC, Santoro A, Raoul JL, Forner A, Schwartz M, Porta C,
          58 months.                                              Zeuzem S, Bolondi L, Greten TF, Galle PR, Seitz JF, Borbath I,
                                                                  Häussinger D, Giannaris T, Shan M, Moscovici M, Voliotis D, Bruix J;
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                             [6]
          case reports concerning this issue [Table 1], and it seems   3.   trial. Lancet Oncol 2009;10:25-34.
                                                                  Zhang L, Hu P, Chen X, Bie P. Transarterial chemoembolization (TACE)
          that relapse of tumor hardly happens in patients who have   plus  sorafenib  versus TACE  for  intermediate  or  advanced  stage
          achieved CR after sorafenib monotherapy, irrespective of drug   hepatocellular carcinoma: a meta-analysis. PLoS One 2014;9:e100305.
          discontinuation or not. For patients who received sorafenib   4.   Chao Y, Chung YH, Han G, Yoon JH, Yang J, Wang J, Shao GL, Kim BI,
          in combination with other therapeutic means, the CR status   Lee TY. The combination of transcatheter arterial chemoembolization
                                                                  and sorafenib is well tolerated and effective in Asian patients with
          may be partly due to the combination treatment, like TACE.   hepatocellular carcinoma: fi nal results of the START trial. Int J Cancer
          Therefore, we propose that sorafenib should be discontinued   2015;136:1458-67.
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          as safe. However, this methodology has limitations associated   cell carcinoma and a complete response to treatment? A multicentre,
          with the small sample of CR cases and interference of other   retrospective analysis. Eur Urol 2009;55:1430-8.
          therapeutic means, and hence it may just be a hypothesis.  7.   So BJ, Bekaii-Saab T, Bloomston MA, Patel T. Complete clinical
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          CONCLUSION                                          8.   Wang SX, Byrnes A, Verma S, Pancoast JR, Rixe O. Complete remission
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          Sorafenib has demonstrated clinical efficacy in HCC patients,   sorafenib: a case report. Target Oncol 2010;5:59-63.
          and more and more CR cases were reported. For patients   9.   Sacco R, Bargellini I, Gianluigi G, Bertini M, Bozzi E, Altomare E,
                                                                  Battaglia V, Romano A, Bertoni M, Capria A, Bresci G, Bartolozzi C.
          who have achieved CR, we propose that sorafenib may     Complete response for advanced liver cancer during sorafenib therapy:
          be discontinued, irrespective of whether it was used as   case report. BMC Gastroenterol 2011;11:4.
          monotherapy or combination therapy with other therapeutic   10.  Inuzuka T, Nishikawa H, Sekikawa A, Takeda H, Henmi S, Sakamoto A,
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          110                                                       Hepatoma Research | Volume 1 | Issue 3 | October 15, 2015
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