Recent Progress in the Treatment and Diagnosis of Hepatocellular Carcinoma

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) remains one of the main causes of cancer death in the world. Recent advancements in the diagnosis of and surgical/nonsurgical treatments for HCC are remarkable, but the process might be different in Eastern and Western countries. The 8th International Meeting of ‘Hepatocellular Carcinoma: Eastern and Western Experiences’ is a good opportunity to discuss the management of HCC among hepatic surgeons, hepatologists, and medical oncologists around the world. In this meeting, we are planning to have symposiums on the perioperative management, surgical resection, laparoscopic hepatectomy, and treatments for advanced HCC, surgery versus RFA, progress of imaging studies, liver transplantation, biomarkers, chemotherapy, guidelines for management, and surveillance of HCC. Hopefully, this meeting will be fruitful for each participant and valuable for cultural exchange and improvement in the treatments for HCC in the world. For the 8th anniversary of this meeting, 7 reviews were invited from designated liver surgeons and specialists in Eastern and Western countries and are published in this special issue of Liver Cancer . In the leading article, the results of current daily practice in liver surgery are reported on the basis of questionnaires sent to 42 liver centers worldwide. I hope that the publishing of this special issue will be a good chance to share and discuss the current status of the treatment of HCC and liver surgery in the world. Norihiro Kokudo, Tokyo Published online: January 7, 2013 www.karger.com/lic DOI: 10.1159/000346385