title: Living-donor liver transplantation for hepatocellular carcinoma.
abstract: Transplant surgeons have long dreamed of achieving a complete cure for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) by replacing the liver with a new graft. Although the early results of liver transplantation for HCC were disappointing, with 5-year survival less than 40%, improved results in patients who met the so-called Milan criteria rekindled the enthusiasm for the treatment of HCC with liver transplantation. Furthermore, the recent development of living-donor liver transplantation in adults has allowed timely grafting for HCC patients and tentative expansion of the criteria for transplant candidacy in patients with HCC - although such expansion is fraught with controversy. Identification of a noninvasive marker that could predict the biological behavior as well as the prognosis of HCC would indeed be a major breakthrough.
authors.affiliation: Department of Organ Transplantation and Regenerative Medicine, Hokkaido University School of Medicine, N-15 W-7, Kita-ku, Sapporo, 060-8646, Japan.
authors.forename: Hiroyuki
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Furukawa
authors.forename: Tsuyoshi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Shimamura
authors.forename: Tomomi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Suzuki
authors.forename: Masahiko
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Taniguchi
authors.forename: Kenichiro
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Yamashita
authors.forename: Toshiya
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Kamiyama
authors.forename: Michiaki
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Matsushita
authors.forename: Satoru
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Todo
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D006528:Carcinoma, Hepatocellular / Q000601:surgery*; D006801:Humans; D007564:Japan; D008113:Liver Neoplasms / Q000601:surgery*; D016031:Liver Transplantation / Q000592:standards; D019520:Living Donors; D014481:United States