Hepatocellular carcinoma in the setting of liver transplantation

✍ Scribed by Maria Varela; William Sanchez; Jordi Bruix; Gregory J. Gores

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 2006
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 274 KB
• Volume: 12
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 1527-6465
• DOI: 10.1002/lt.20833

✦ Synopsis

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a frequent complication and leading cause of mortality among patients with cirrhosis. In the setting of advanced liver disease, many patients with HCC are not candidates for hepatic resection due to inadequate functional hepatic reserve and the risk of postoperative decompensation. In these patients, liver transplantation (LT) offers curative therapy, as well as amelioration of their underlying chronic liver disease. Among appropriately selected candidates, LT for HCC provides excellent technical results with 5-yr overall survival rates exceeding 70%, similar to patients undergoing LT for other indications. [1][2][3][4] The size and number of tumors plays an important role in determining an individual patient's candidacy for LT. However, patients on the LT waiting list are at risk for tumor progression leading to ineligibility for LT and death. Given the significant impact of HCC on patients with cirrhosis, healthcare providers caring for this patient population need to be familiar with the diagnostic criteria, pretransplantation management, transplantation criteria, and organ allocation policies associated with LT for HCC.