Published online Jul 28, 2014. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v20.i28.9237
Revised: March 5, 2014
Accepted: June 13, 2014
Published online: July 28, 2014
Processing time: 233 Days and 3.1 Hours
The aim of management of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is to improve the prognosis of the patients by radical resection and preserve remnant liver function. Although liver transplantation is associated with a lower tumor recurrence rate, this benefit is counteracted by long-term complications. Therefore, hepatectomy could be the first choice of treatment in selected patients with HCC. However, the higher frequency of tumor recurrence and the lower rate of resectability after hepatectomy for HCC led to an unsatisfactory prognosis. New strategies are required to improve the long-term outcome of HCC after hepatectomy. In this paper, we introduce some strategies to increase the low rate of resectability and reduce the high rate of tumor recurrence. Some aggressive treatments for tumor recurrence to extend long-term survival are also involved. We believe that hepatectomy combined with other therapies, such as portal vein embolization, transarterial chemoembolization, radioembolization, antiviral treatment, radiofrequency ablation and salvage transplantation, is a promising treatment modality for HCC and may improve survival greatly.
Core tip: We discuss the new strategies to improve the long-term outcome of hepatocellular carcinoma after hepatectomy.