Hepatocellular Carcinoma: A Practical Approach PDF

Preface

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the fifth most common cancer worldwide and the third leading cause of cancer-related mortality after lung and stomach cancers. It is associated with a poor prognosis when diagnosis is made when patients reach a symptomatic state. The lack of sensitive and specific tumor markers has further hampered our ability to effectively screen patients at risk for HCC and diagnose this malignancy at an early stage. Yet simple and widely available tool of ultrasonography, when done well, had allowed for early diagnosis of HCC. Currently, the only curative therapies for HCC are surgical resection and liver transplantation. Such modalities, particularly liver transplantation, are not widely available. HCC management, from screening patients with chronic liver disease through diagnosis and therapy, now forms a major part of hepatology practice that necessitates a multidisciplinary approach that involves surgery, hepatology, interventional radiology, oncology, and pathology.

Nonsurgical therapies such as ablative therapy serve to treat this malignancy effectively, while the underlying chronic liver disease serves as major limitation in aggressive therapy, which in turn contributes to liver disease–related morbidity and mortality. Effective therapies are urgently needed to improve survival in patients with advanced HCC. Better understanding of the role of hepatitis viruses and the molecular mechanisms involved in hepatocarcinogenesis are leading to newer and effective systemic therapies, which will complement the more established locoregional treatments. Recently, targeted agents have shown encouraging efficacy in clinical trials in patients with advanced HCC. Agents under investigation are directed toward molecular mechanisms underlying the pathology of HCC and include inhibitors of angiogenesis and epidermal growth factor receptor–mediated signaling.

With Hepatocellular Carcinoma: A Practical Approach, the editors present the most recent developments on the diagnosis, screening, and comprehensive medical and surgical management of HCC. It aims to benefit clinicians who deal with its daily issues, especially gastroenterologists, hepatologists, radiologists, liver surgeons, and oncologists. This concise textbook deals with all aspects of HCC in a practical, evidence-based approach and will provide step-by-step management guidelines, applicable to all clinical scenarios. International faculty will illustrate current trends in incidence of HCC, adequacy and effectiveness of screening high-risk populations, means of early diagnosis, and optimal approaches to management and treatment including local ablation therapy, chemoembolization, liver resection, transplantation, and chemotherapeutic agents.

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