Hepatocellular carcinoma

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a common malignancy worldwide and is a disease of multifactorial etiology. Strong correlations exist between the prevalence of the hepatitis B and C viruses and HCC incidence. HCC treatment may involve surgical resection, liver transplantation, locoregional treatments, and chemotherapy. Prevention of virus-related HCC is contingent upon control of hepatitis types B and C. Universal vaccination against hepatitis B could eliminate hepatitis B-related HCC; however, hepatitis C-related HCC still could occur because a vaccine for hepatitis C currently is not available. Individuals at risk for HCC should be screened for the disease. Early detection could result in improved prognosis and survival.     

Hepatocellular carcinoma

One of the advances in recent years about the treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma is clinical evidence of the molecular target drug, sorafenib. Although sorafenib shows little anti-tumor effect indicated by tumor shrinkage, it has inhibitory effect of tumor development to be the first drug shown to extend survival in hepatocellular carcinoma. Because its side effects are different than the traditional cytotoxic drugs, to better understand the side effects and its treatment is necessary for sorafenib treatment. More appropriate use of sorafenib is recommended because of serious adverse events or deaths in Japan. Position of sorafenib in the treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma among hepatic arterial infusion chemotherapy and transcatheter arterial embolization is not yet clear. Many clinical trials of molecular target drugs against hepatocellular carcinoma are underway.