Effect of Oncoxin, a Food Supplement, on Terminal-stage Hepatocellular Carcinoma Patients

Abstract

Background: Liver cancer is currently the second-most common cause of cancer-related deaths worldwide and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) accounts for more than 90% of liver cancers. Patients with terminal HCC are those presenting with very poor Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG) Performance Status 3–4 with tumors beyond the transplantation threshold. Their management of terminal HCC is only palliative support. Oncoxin is a nutritional supplement that is used as an over-the-counter nutritional prophylaxis for cancers. Our aim was to evaluate the effect of Oncoxin in terminal HCC patients along with the best supportive care (BSC), comparing that to the terminal-stage HCC patient only treated with BSC to determine the survival outcome as well as performance status, assessed by the ECOG Performance Status Scale. Materials and methods: This was a randomized control trial conducted at the Hepatology Department, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University (BSMMU) from December 2019 to February 2021. A total of 60 patients were included (30 patients for Oncoxin with BSC and 30 patients for BSC only) and randomized into two groups. They were followed up for 3 months. Results: In this study, it was observed that at 60 days, eight (26.7%) patients survived in the Oncoxin group and one (3.3%) patient survived in the BSC group. The difference was statistically significant ( p < 0.05). However, the Oncoxin administration had no survival benefit at 30 and 90 days follow up. After 30 days of treatment, a comparison of ECOG Performance Status between groups showed that all 12 (100%) patients in the Oncoxin group were in grade 3, while in the BSC group, four (44.4%) patients were in grade 3 and five (55.6%) patients were in grade 4. These differences were statistically significant. Conclusion: The study shows that Oncoxin appears to increase the survival of some, but not all, patients with terminal-stage HCC. The improvement of ECOG Performance Status was also observed.