Resection versus transplantation for hepatocellular carcinoma

Hepatocellular carcinoma is responsible for more than 1 million deaths per year worldwide and thus remains a challenging medical problem. It causes fe w or no symptoms and the tumour frequently reaches an enormous size by the time of diagnosis in countries where screening is seldom used. It is genera lly resistant to commercially available anti-neoplastic agents and radiatio n therapy. The principal treatment continues to be resection, either partia l or complete, with liver transplantation. However, less than one-third of patients are surgical candidates for either resection or transplantation at the time of clinical presentation. This review will address the results ob served following resection or transplantation for hepatocellular carcinoma.