Patauner S, Scotton G, Notte F, Frena A. Advanced hepatocellular carcinoma treatment strategies: Are transarterial approaches leading the way? World J Gastrointest Oncol 2025; 17(1): 99834 [DOI: 10.4251/wjgo.v17.i1.99834]
Corresponding Author of This Article
Antonio Frena, MD, PhD, Surgeon, Department of General and Pediatric Surgery, Bolzano Central Hospital - SABES, Via Boehler 5, Bolzano 39100, Trentino-Alto Adige, Italy. antonio.frena@sabes.it
Research Domain of This Article
Oncology
Article-Type of This Article
Editorial
Open-Access Policy of This Article
This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
World J Gastrointest Oncol. Jan 15, 2025; 17(1): 99834 Published online Jan 15, 2025. doi: 10.4251/wjgo.v17.i1.99834
Advanced hepatocellular carcinoma treatment strategies: Are transarterial approaches leading the way?
Stefan Patauner, Giovanni Scotton, Francesca Notte, Antonio Frena
Stefan Patauner, Giovanni Scotton, Francesca Notte, Antonio Frena, Department of General and Pediatric Surgery, Bolzano Central Hospital - SABES, Bolzano 39100, Trentino-Alto Adige, Italy
Co-first authors: Stefan Patauner and Giovanni Scotton.
Author contributions: Frena A designed the overall concept of the manuscript and revised the manuscript; Patauner S and Scotton G equally contributed to the design, review of the literature and writing of the manuscript; Notte F contributed to the review of the literature and editing of the manuscript; All authors contributed to this paper.
Conflict-of-interest statement: All the authors report no relevant conflicts of interest for this article.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Antonio Frena, MD, PhD, Surgeon, Department of General and Pediatric Surgery, Bolzano Central Hospital - SABES, Via Boehler 5, Bolzano 39100, Trentino-Alto Adige, Italy. antonio.frena@sabes.it
Received: July 31, 2024 Revised: September 20, 2024 Accepted: September 25, 2024 Published online: January 15, 2025 Processing time: 133 Days and 22.1 Hours
Abstract
Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a leading cause of cancer-related mortality worldwide, with advanced stages posing significant treatment challenges. Although hepatic arterial infusion chemotherapy (HAIC) has emerged as a promising modality for treating advanced HCC, particularly in Asian clinical practice, its adoption in Western medicine remains limited due to a lack of large-scale randomized controlled trials. This editorial reviews and comments on the meta-analysis conducted by Zhou et al, which evaluates the efficacy and safety of HAIC and its combination strategies for advanced HCC. The authors performed a comprehensive meta-analysis of various clinical trials and cohort studies comparing HAIC and its combinations to other first-line treatments, such as sorafenib and transarterial chemoembolization (TACE). In this work, HAIC showed significantly better results regarding overall survival and progression-free survival compared to sorafenib or TACE alone and their combination. HAIC in combination with lenvatinib, ablation, programmed cell death 1 inhibitors, and radiotherapy further enhanced patient outcomes, indicating a synergistic effect. This editorial focuses on the critical role of multimodal treatment strategies in managing advanced HCC. It advocates for a paradigm shift towards integrated treatment approaches to enhance survival rates and improve the quality of life in patients with advanced HCC.
Core Tip: The treatment landscape for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is various, including surgical resection, ablation, transplantation, transarterial, and systemic therapies. Each modality is selected based on tumor characteristics, liver function, and patient performance status. This editorial explores the role of hepatic arterial infusion chemotherapy and its combination strategies for advanced HCC, highlighting its potential advantages and advocating for its broader acceptance based on recent meta-analysis findings.
