title: Hepatocellular carcinoma beyond Milan criteria: Management and transplant selection criteria.
abstract: Liver transplantation (LT) for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) has been established as a standard treatment in selected patients for the last two and a half decades. After initially dismal outcomes, the Milan criteria (MC) (single HCC ≤ 5 cm or up to 3 HCCs ≤ 3 cm) have been adopted worldwide to select HCC patients for LT, however cumulative experience has shown that MC can be too strict. This has led to the development of numerous expanded criteria worldwide. Morphometric expansions on MC as well as various criteria which incorporate biomarkers as surrogates of tumor biology have been described. HCC that presents beyond MC initially can be downstaged with locoregional therapy (LRT). Post-LRT monitoring aims to identify candidates with favorable tumor behavior. Similarly, tumor marker levels as response to LRT has been utilized as surrogate of tumor biology. Molecular signatures of HCC have also been correlated to outcomes; these have yet to be incorporated into HCC-LT selection criteria formally. The ongoing discrepancy between organ demand and supply makes patient selection the most challenging element of organ allocation. Further validation of extended HCC-LT criteria models and pre-LT treatment strategies are required.
authors.affiliation: Mohammed Elshamy, Federico Aucejo, Bijan Eghtesad, Hepato-biliary and Transplant Surgery, Digestive Disease and Surgery Institute, Cleveland Clinic Foundation, Cleveland, OH 44195, United States.
authors.forename: Mohammed
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Elshamy
authors.affiliation: Mohammed Elshamy, Federico Aucejo, Bijan Eghtesad, Hepato-biliary and Transplant Surgery, Digestive Disease and Surgery Institute, Cleveland Clinic Foundation, Cleveland, OH 44195, United States.
authors.forename: Federico
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Aucejo
authors.affiliation: Mohammed Elshamy, Federico Aucejo, Bijan Eghtesad, Hepato-biliary and Transplant Surgery, Digestive Disease and Surgery Institute, Cleveland Clinic Foundation, Cleveland, OH 44195, United States.
authors.forename: K V Narayanan
authors.initials: KV
authors.lastname: Menon
authors.affiliation: Mohammed Elshamy, Federico Aucejo, Bijan Eghtesad, Hepato-biliary and Transplant Surgery, Digestive Disease and Surgery Institute, Cleveland Clinic Foundation, Cleveland, OH 44195, United States.
authors.forename: Bijan
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Eghtesad
keywords: Down staging; Expanded criteria; Hepatocellular carcinoma; Liver transplantation; Locoregional therapy; Milan criteria