Medical Management of Hepatocellular Carcinoma

Abstract

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a leading cause of cancer-related deaths in both men and women worldwide. Therapeutic decision can be challenging since most of those patients have some degree of underlying liver dysfunction which affects the treatment options and patient survival. Surgical resection is generally reserved for patients with low tumor burden and reasonable hepatic function and performance status. Beyond surgical therapy, treatment options are limited and patient survival rates are diminished. This is further complicated by the fact that most patients with liver cancer are initially diagnosed with an advanced-stage tumor. Several locoregional therapies have been developed and evaluated in clinical trials in the recent years. Combination therapy appears to have more favorable outcome. However, the survival benefits of such therapies are variable. This chapter will review the different non-surgical therapeutic strategies for the treatment of HCC.