title: Current management of patients with hepatocellular carcinoma.
abstract: The current management therapies for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) patients are discussed in this review. Despite the development of new therapies, HCC remains a "difficult to treat" cancer because HCC typically occurs in advanced liver disease or hepatic cirrhosis. The progression of multistep and multicentric HCC hampers the prevention of the recurrence of HCC. Many HCC patients are treated with surgical resection and radiofrequency ablation (RFA), although these modalities should be considered in only selected cases with a certain HCC number and size. Although there is a shortage of grafts, liver transplantation has the highest survival rates for HCC. Several modalities are salvage treatments; however, intensive care in combination with other modalities or in combination with surgical resection or RFA might offer a better prognosis. Sorafenib is useful for patients with advanced HCC. In the near future, HCC treatment will include stronger molecular targeted drugs, which will have greater potency and fewer adverse events. Further studies will be ongoing.
authors.affiliation: Tatsuo Kanda, Sadahisa Ogasawara, Tetsuhiro Chiba, Yuki Haga, Osamu Yokosuka, Department of Gastroenterology and Nephrology, Graduate School of Medicine, Chiba University, Chuo-ku, Chiba 260-8677, Japan.
authors.forename: Tatsuo
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Kanda
authors.affiliation: Tatsuo Kanda, Sadahisa Ogasawara, Tetsuhiro Chiba, Yuki Haga, Osamu Yokosuka, Department of Gastroenterology and Nephrology, Graduate School of Medicine, Chiba University, Chuo-ku, Chiba 260-8677, Japan.
authors.forename: Sadahisa
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ogasawara
authors.affiliation: Tatsuo Kanda, Sadahisa Ogasawara, Tetsuhiro Chiba, Yuki Haga, Osamu Yokosuka, Department of Gastroenterology and Nephrology, Graduate School of Medicine, Chiba University, Chuo-ku, Chiba 260-8677, Japan.
authors.forename: Tetsuhiro
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Chiba
authors.affiliation: Tatsuo Kanda, Sadahisa Ogasawara, Tetsuhiro Chiba, Yuki Haga, Osamu Yokosuka, Department of Gastroenterology and Nephrology, Graduate School of Medicine, Chiba University, Chuo-ku, Chiba 260-8677, Japan.
authors.forename: Yuki
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Haga
authors.affiliation: Tatsuo Kanda, Sadahisa Ogasawara, Tetsuhiro Chiba, Yuki Haga, Osamu Yokosuka, Department of Gastroenterology and Nephrology, Graduate School of Medicine, Chiba University, Chuo-ku, Chiba 260-8677, Japan.
authors.forename: Masao
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Omata
authors.affiliation: Tatsuo Kanda, Sadahisa Ogasawara, Tetsuhiro Chiba, Yuki Haga, Osamu Yokosuka, Department of Gastroenterology and Nephrology, Graduate School of Medicine, Chiba University, Chuo-ku, Chiba 260-8677, Japan.
authors.forename: Osamu
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Yokosuka
keywords: Hepatocellular carcinoma; Living donor liver transplantation; Radiofrequency ablation; Surgical resection