Clinical staging and treatment strategy for hepatocellular carcinoma / 国际外科学杂志

ABSTRACT

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the fifth most common cancer and the second leading cause of cancer-related death worldwide.Increase in incidence has been shown in HCC over the last few years and more than half of the cases were reported in China,where hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection is the main etiologic factor.Heterogeneity in HCC's distribution worldwide and difference in etiology may result in a more complicated issue about prognosis-estimation and choosing of treatment options for HCC patients.In the past decade,there have been several clinical staging systems developed in terms of relevant prognostic factors.Among them,the Barcelona Clinic Liver Cancer (BCLC) and the Hong Kong Liver Cancer (HKLC) staging system are the only two classifications that link prognostic classification to treatment indications.In this review,we mainly focus on the application of BCLC and HKLC staging systems in guiding decision making for HCC,the respective advantages and disadvantages of each classification,and the future perspective of our own prediction model in which some new clinical factors will be integrated.