MEDICAL-TREATMENT OF HEPATOCELLULAR-CARCINOMA - ANY PROGRESS

Background: Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) remains one of the most com mon neoplasms worldwide. Curative treatment options include liver tran splantation or resection. Unfortunately, most patients still have unre sectable or untransplantable HCC due to disease extension or comorbid factors and are therefore candidate only for palliative treatments. Me thods: In this review we have analyzed the different medical approache s employed in the treatment of HCC in an attempt to better define thei r roles. Results: Palliative medical treatments including systemic che motherapy, immunotherapy or hormonal manipulation rarely influence sur vival of the patients. Although a high response rate is often reported with new local therapies such as transcatheter arterial embolization, intraarterial chemotherapy or percutaneous ethanol injection, the rea l impact of these treatment modalities on patient survival remains to be determined. Conclusion: One way to improve the diagnosis of HCC pat ients would be an appropriate approach to evaluate new drugs or treatm ent modalities. To answer all the open questions, further trials, poss ibly randomized, should be conducted on a substantial number of patien ts with homogeneous prognostic factors.