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A Review of the current Treatment Options in Hepatocellular Carcinoma
Abstract
Background: Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the fifth most common cancer worldwide with highest incidence in south East Asia and tropical Africa. This geographical incidence parallels closely the incidence of Hepatitis B and C viral infections. Early diagnosis of hepatocellular carcinoma is almost impossible in settings where screening is not routinely done. This inevitably leads to late presentation. This article aims to review the current management of HCC and its recent advances.
Data sources: A Pub Med database search was performed to identify relevant English language articles using the keywords "hepatocellular carcinoma", "hepatectomy", "Ablative treatment", and "Systemic therapy". A further search of cited bibliographies obtained from the Pub Med search was also done.
Results: There were many treatment options for HCC ranging from surgical resection that offer a potential for cure through ablative therapies like percutaneous ethanol and radiofrequency ablations to the use of systemic agents like cytotoxic chemotherapy that are not too useful and recently the use of multikinase inhibitors like sorafenib that hold some promise. Recent therapies include RNA interference therapeutics, use of angiogenesis inhibitors like bevacizumab and cholesterol lowering agents like simvastatin.
Conclusion: There are many treatment options for HCC with no definite proof of the superiority of one modality over the other. In practice, a combination of these treatment options is favoured.
Data sources: A Pub Med database search was performed to identify relevant English language articles using the keywords "hepatocellular carcinoma", "hepatectomy", "Ablative treatment", and "Systemic therapy". A further search of cited bibliographies obtained from the Pub Med search was also done.
Results: There were many treatment options for HCC ranging from surgical resection that offer a potential for cure through ablative therapies like percutaneous ethanol and radiofrequency ablations to the use of systemic agents like cytotoxic chemotherapy that are not too useful and recently the use of multikinase inhibitors like sorafenib that hold some promise. Recent therapies include RNA interference therapeutics, use of angiogenesis inhibitors like bevacizumab and cholesterol lowering agents like simvastatin.
Conclusion: There are many treatment options for HCC with no definite proof of the superiority of one modality over the other. In practice, a combination of these treatment options is favoured.
