Systematic review: evidence‐based management of hepatocellular carcinoma – an updated analysis of randomized controlled trials

The treatment strategy of hepatocellular carcinoma applied following scientific guidelines is only supported by 77 randomized controlled trials published so far, a figure that clearly pinpoints hepatocellular carcinoma as an ‘orphan’ cancer in terms of clinical research when compared with other high‐prevalent cancers worldwide.

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[12]  T. Kawabe,et al.  A randomized controlled trial of radiofrequency ablation with ethanol injection for small hepatocellular carcinoma. , 2005, Gastroenterology.

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[20]  Ji-wei Chen,et al.  Tamoxifen combined with octreotide or regular chemotherapeutic agents in treatment of primary liver cancer: a randomized controlled trial. , 2003, Hepatobiliary & pancreatic diseases international : HBPD INT.

[21]  J. Bruix,et al.  Intention‐to‐treat analysis of surgical treatment for early hepatocellular carcinoma: Resection versus transplantation , 1999, Hepatology.

[22]  M. Al-Ahwal,et al.  Chemoembolization in hepatocellular carcinoma. , 1998, Saudi medical journal.

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[25]  K. Soo,et al.  High‐dose tamoxifen in the treatment of inoperable hepatocellular carcinoma: A multicenter randomized controlled trial , 2002, Hepatology.

[26]  S. Chevret,et al.  A comparison of lipiodol chemoembolization and conservative treatment for unresectable hepatocellular carcinoma. , 1995, The New England journal of medicine.

[27]  M. Schwartz,et al.  Neoadjuvant and adjuvant therapy for resectable hepatocellular carcinoma: review of the randomised clinical trials. , 2002, The Lancet. Oncology.

[28]  M. Omata,et al.  Evaluation of transcatheter arterial embolization prior to percutaneous tumor ablation in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma: a randomized controlled trial , 2004, Liver international : official journal of the International Association for the Study of the Liver.

[29]  ndrea,et al.  Liver transplantation for the treatment of small hepatocellular carcinomas in patients with cirrhosis. , 1996, The New England journal of medicine.

[30]  Groupe d'Etude et de Traitement du Carcinome Hépatocellulaire Randomized trial of leuprorelin and flutamide in male patients with hepatocellular carcinoma treated with tamoxifen , 2004, Hepatology.

[31]  T. Mok,et al.  Results of a phase 2/3 open-label, randomized trial of T138067 versus doxorubicin (DOX) in chemotherapy-naïve, unresectable hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). , 2005 .

[32]  V. Mazzaferro,et al.  Resection and Liver Transplantation for Hepatocellular Carcinoma , 2005, Seminars in liver disease.

[33]  Yi-Cheng Chen,et al.  Radiofrequency ablation improves prognosis compared with ethanol injection for hepatocellular carcinoma < or =4 cm. , 2004, Gastroenterology.

[34]  J. Bruix,et al.  Initial response to percutaneous ablation predicts survival in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma , 2004, Hepatology.

[35]  S. Fan,et al.  A randomized placebo‐controlled study of long‐acting octreotide for the treatment of advanced hepatocellular carcinoma , 2002, Hepatology.

[36]  A R Jadad,et al.  Assessing the quality of reports of randomized clinical trials: is blinding necessary? , 1996, Controlled clinical trials.

[37]  Carlo Bartolozzi,et al.  Small hepatocellular carcinoma in cirrhosis: randomized comparison of radio-frequency thermal ablation versus percutaneous ethanol injection. , 2003, Radiology.

[38]  S. Fan,et al.  Locoregional Therapies for Hepatocellular Carcinoma: A Critical Review From the Surgeon’s Perspective , 2002, Annals of surgery.

[39]  H. El‐Serag,et al.  Rising incidence of hepatocellular carcinoma in the United States. , 1999, The New England journal of medicine.

[40]  M. Makuuchi,et al.  Results of surgical and nonsurgical treatment for small‐sized hepatocellular carcinomas: A retrospective and nationwide survey in Japan , 2000, Hepatology.

[41]  John Wong,et al.  Randomized controlled trial of transarterial lipiodol chemoembolization for unresectable hepatocellular carcinoma , 2002, Hepatology.

[42]  D. Guyader,et al.  Prospective randomized trial of chemoembolization versus intra‐arterial injection of 131I‐labeled–iodized oil in the treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma , 1997, Hepatology.