Will salvage surgery after conversion of initially unresectable to resectable hepatocellular carcinoma become a treatment option in this era of precision medicine? / 中华肝胆外科杂志

ABSTRACT

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is common in China. Most patients are at advanced stages of HCC at diagnosis, with short survival outcomes and poor prognosis. It is a major disease that seriously affects the health of many people. In recent years, the medical community has attempted to prolong survival and improve quality of life of patients by using multidisciplinary treatments. Immune checkpoint inhibitors, when combined with antiangiogenic targeted drugs, have achieved encouraging results in treatment of advanced hepatocellular carcinoma. This paper focuses on the issues of using salvage surgery after conversion of initially unresectable to resectable HCC by immune checkpoint inhibitors combined with antiangiogenic targeted drugs in treatment of advanced hepatocellular carcinoma, and makes a prediction on the prospect of this therapy protocol in treatment of these patients.