SURGICAL TREATMENT PROTOCOLS FOR HEPATOCELLULAR CARCINOMA

Hepa to cellular carcinoma (HCC) is one of the most common diseases, with an increasing incidence. With new and advanced surgical instrumentation and techniques, several curative therapies have become successful. The HCC patients are treated according to the stage of Liver tumor. For very early stage of HCC, the very first choice of therapy is liver resection but it is later being replaced by local ablative therapy which is useful as a bridging therapy toward liver transplantation and also as a replacement therapy for liver transplant when conditions are not feasible. However, liver transplantation provides better results in the HCC patients whose tumors meet the Milan criteria. The main obstacle towards the successful treatment is the HCC recurrence and at present there is no successful ways of treating and preventing HCC recurrence. For intermediate-stage HCC, the transarterial therapy is considered suitable. This surgical therapy not only provides suitable outcomes but also recovers the quality of life of HCC patients. Because of the complications of HCC, the surgical therapeutic approaches must be considered according to the tumor stage of each individual patient. The article presents an overview of treatment therapies for both early and advanced stage HCC based on the extensive review of the relevant literature.