Surgical options for hepatocellular carcinoma: resection and transplantation

Surgical resection remains the best option for potential cure and long-term survival in patients with HCC. The question of to what extent transplantation for HCC should be performed remains controversial. There appears to be a definite role for OLT in the treatment of HCC, with many series showing improved survival over resection, especially with "favorable" tumors. What remains to be determined are the best patients and the best protocol. There is little question that patients with small unifocal tumors do well after OLT. It is the patient who falls outside of these narrow guidelines that poses a problem in clinical decision making and organ allocation. The ability to determine relative risk of recurrence of HCC would perhaps allow a more equitable allocation of a scarce resource. Currently, we evaluate each patient with HCC on an individual basis, making the best decision possible based on the patient's clinical status, our most advanced current imaging studies, and known clinical prognostic factors (Table 6). Adequate staging is essential to determine suitable candidates. Advances in multimodal adjuvant therapy are needed for patients with poor prognostic factors to achieve results similar to what is seen in those who receive transplants for nonmalignant diseases. Attempts at resection should be performed for those patients presenting with Child's class A cirrhosis, because these are the patients who would tolerate a resection with acceptable morbidity and mortality. Limited resections based on segmental anatomy may be consider in "good risk" Child's class B cirrhotics, considering the current organ shortage. Child's class C and decompensated Child's class B patients without significant risk factors should be evaluated for transplantation, and preoperative chemoembolization should be considered to prevent spread while the patient is on the waiting list. These patients should be monitored with imaging studies and by AFP levels on a regular basis while they await their transplant. After transplantation, chemotherapy should be considered for those patients with moderate to high risk of recurrence, within the guidelines of an institutional or multicenter protocol. In patients with multiple poor prognostic factors, or those who are too ill to undergo resection or transplantation, palliative measures may be used. As the need for organs increases, and the wait continues to grow, it becomes increasingly difficult to justify the use of a scarce resource for patients with a known less desirable outcome. On the other hand, we must be careful not to exclude an entire group of patients from a potentially curative procedure. We now have evidence that survival after transplantation for HCC in carefully chosen patients can equal that of benign disease. We need to be selective and cautious in our choice of recipients, but not exclusive, using prior experience and the knowledge we now possess regarding a set of fairly well-delineated risk factors.