Bridging and downstaging therapy in patients suffering from hepatocellular carcinoma waiting on the list of liver transplantation

Abstract

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a common primary malignancy worldwide especially in the patients with the background of chronic liver disease. Liver transplantation (LT) is the only curative treatment effective for both malignancy as well as the cirrhosis and portal hypertension. Unfortunately, living donor is not always possible and the deceased graft is scarce. Neoadjuvant therapies, therefore, have been developed as a downstaging treatment to try to downstage the tumor within the transplant criteria, or as a bridging therapy to control the tumor growth in patients while waiting in the transplant list. This paper reviewed the common modalities used as bridging and downstaging therapies for patients suffering from HCC before undergoing LT.

Keywords: Liver transplant (LT); downstaging; high intensity focuses ultrasound (HIFU); radiofrequency ablation (RFA).