Liver transplantation and conventional surgery for advanced hepatocellular carcinoma

Abstract

This study intended to discuss the roles of hepatic resection (HR) and liver transplantation (LT) in patients with advanced hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) through our experience and literature review. For large HCC > 10 cm, HR is regarded as the treatment of choice when hepatic function is preserved. Considering frequent extrahepatic recurrence and acceptable outcome after curative HR, LT has not been recommended. For multiple HCCs, HR has been attempted in different preferences worldwide. HR can offer acceptable survival outcome for patients with small oligo-nodular HCCs and well-preserved liver function. Recurrence pattern lowers the applicability of salvage LT, thus primary LT is suggested. For HCC patients with major portal vein tumor thrombus, HR with thrombus removal can be performed, in contrast LT is contraindicated. For HCC with bile duct tumor thrombus, aggressive en bloc resection can lead to prolongation of survival. There is no consensus on transplantability of HCC with bile duct tumor thrombus, but complete resection may provide survival gain after LT. In conclusion, HR and LT have complementary roles, thus they should be associated to rather than being opposed. Multi-modality treatment strategy especially, for patients with advanced HCC, provides new fields of investigation for diverse indications of HR and LT.