title: Staging systems: Is there a surgical staging and a medical one? A surgeon's perspective.
abstract: From a surgeon's perspective, the AJCC 6th edition is the staging system of choice due to its simplified clinicopathologic schema, discriminatory accuracy, extensive external validation, widespread geographic reproducibility, and applicability to both the resection and transplantation patient population with hepatocellular carcinoma.
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgical Oncology, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, PO Box 301402, 1515 Holcombe Boulevard Unit 444, Houston, TX 77230-1402, USA. cmcontre@mdanderson.org
authors.forename: Carlo M
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Contreras
authors.forename: Jean-Nicolas
authors.initials: JN
authors.lastname: Vauthey
mesh_terms: D006528:Carcinoma, Hepatocellular / Q000473:pathology* / Q000601:surgery; D006498:Hepatectomy / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D008113:Liver Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology* / Q000601:surgery; D009367:Neoplasm Staging / Q000379:methods*; D011379:Prognosis; D015203:Reproducibility of Results