title: Early hepatocellular carcinoma: pathology, imaging, and therapy.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  In 1987, Japanese researchers proposed to define the pathological concept of early hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). However, there are some conceptual differences between the East and the West in the diagnosis and treatment of early HCC.
  
  
  METHODS
  To provide up-to-date data for making a worldwide consensus, this article has collected six papers focused on the management of early HCC, which were presented in the Fifth International Meeting of "Hepatocellular Carcinoma: Eastern and Western Experiences" in Houston in January 2007.
  
  
  RESULTS
  In the pathological perspective, the common criteria to discriminate early HCC from dysplastic nodule included hepatocytic invasion of portal triads and septa (stromal invasion). The current imaging modalities such as contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS), computed tomography (CT), and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) with the use of intravenous contrast material with multiphasic imaging could enhance their ability to accurately characterize early HCC. From the treatment perspective, a single early HCC had a high chance for cure by resection, ablation, or transplantation, which proved to be the earliest clinical entity (Stage 0 HCC).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Early HCC is characterized by its incipient malignant nature and by an extremely favorable clinical outcome, thereby justifying its definition.
authors.affiliation: Department of Digestive Surgery, Nihon University School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan. tadtak@med.nihon-u.ac.jp
authors.forename: Tadatoshi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Takayama
authors.forename: Masatoshi
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Makuuchi
authors.forename: Masamichi
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kojiro
authors.forename: Gregory Y
authors.initials: GY
authors.lastname: Lauwers
authors.forename: Reid B
authors.initials: RB
authors.lastname: Adams
authors.forename: Stephanie R
authors.initials: SR
authors.lastname: Wilson
authors.forename: Hyun-Jung
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: Jang
authors.forename: Chusilp
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Charnsangavej
authors.forename: Bachir
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Taouli
mesh_terms: D006528:Carcinoma, Hepatocellular / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000628:therapy*; D006801:Humans; D008113:Liver Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000628:therapy*; D016019:Survival Analysis