Optimal treatment for small HCC (<3 cm): Resection, liver transplantation, or locoregional therapy?

Llovet, 2021, Hepatocellular carcinoma, Nat Rev Dis Primers, 7, 6, 10.1038/s41572-020-00240-3 Estes, 2018, Modeling the epidemic of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease demonstrates an exponential increase in burden of disease, Hepatology, 67, 123, 10.1002/hep.29466 Gondek, 2008, Economic costs of hepatocellular carcinoma in the United States, J Clin Oncol, 26, 10.1200/jco.2008.26.15_suppl.6555 Aly, 2020, Epidemiologic, humanistic and economic burden of hepatocellular carcinoma in the USA: a systematic literature review, Hepat Oncol, 7, Hep27, 10.2217/hep-2020-0024 Hernandez-Gea, 2013, Management of small hepatocellular carcinoma in cirrhosis: focus on portal hypertension, World J Gastroenterol, 19, 1193, 10.3748/wjg.v19.i8.1193 Kudo, 2007, Review of 4th single topic conference on HCC. Hepatocellular carcinoma: international consensus and controversies, Hepatol Res, 37, S83 Wu, 2018, Importance of tumor size at diagnosis as a prognostic factor for hepatocellular carcinoma survival: a population-based study, Cancer Manag Res, 10, 4401, 10.2147/CMAR.S177663 Zhang, 2004, Randomized controlled trial of screening for hepatocellular carcinoma, J Cancer Res Clin Oncol, 130, 417, 10.1007/s00432-004-0552-0 Kansagara, 2014, Screening for hepatocellular carcinoma in chronic liver disease: a systematic review, Ann Intern Med, 161, 261, 10.7326/M14-0558 Heimbach, 2018, AASLD guidelines for the treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma, Hepatology, 67, 358, 10.1002/hep.29086 Omata, 2017, Asia-Pacific clinical practice guidelines on the management of hepatocellular carcinoma: a 2017 update, Hepatol Int, 11, 317, 10.1007/s12072-017-9799-9 2018, EASL clinical practice guidelines: management of hepatocellular carcinoma, J Hepatol, 69, 182, 10.1016/j.jhep.2018.03.019 Reig, 2022, BCLC strategy for prognosis prediction and treatment recommendation: the 2022 update, J Hepatol, 76, 681, 10.1016/j.jhep.2021.11.018 Morise, 2014, Recent advances in liver resection for hepatocellular carcinoma, Front Surg, 1, 21, 10.3389/fsurg.2014.00021 Orcutt, 2018, Liver resection and surgical strategies for management of primary liver cancer, Cancer Control, 25, 10.1177/1073274817744621 Poon, 2002, Long-term survival and pattern of recurrence after resection of small hepatocellular carcinoma in patients with preserved liver function: implications for a strategy of salvage transplantation, Ann Surg, 235, 373, 10.1097/00000658-200203000-00009 Zhou, 2001, Experience of 1000 patients who underwent hepatectomy for small hepatocellular carcinoma, Cancer, 91, 1479, 10.1002/1097-0142(20010415)91:8<1479::AID-CNCR1155>3.0.CO;2-0 Thelen, 2013, Liver resection for hepatocellular carcinoma in patients without cirrhosis, Br J Surg, 100, 130, 10.1002/bjs.8962 Lee, 2010, Liver transplantation versus liver resection for the treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma, J Surg Oncol, 101, 47, 10.1002/jso.21415 Giuliante, 2012, Liver resection for hepatocellular carcinoma ≤3 cm: results of an Italian multicenter study on 588 patients, J Am Coll Surg, 215, 244, 10.1016/j.jamcollsurg.2012.04.013 Seshadri, 2014, Survival analysis of patients with stage I and II hepatocellular carcinoma after a liver transplantation or liver resection, HPB, 16, 1102, 10.1111/hpb.12300 Pinna, 2018, Liver transplantation and hepatic resection can achieve cure for hepatocellular carcinoma, Ann Surg, 268, 868, 10.1097/SLA.0000000000002889 Tsilimigras, 2020, Recurrence beyond the Milan criteria after curative-intent resection of hepatocellular carcinoma: a novel tumor-burden based prediction model, J Surg Oncol, 122, 955, 10.1002/jso.26091 Zheng, 2017, Prediction of hepatocellular carcinoma recurrence beyond milan criteria after resection: validation of a clinical risk score in an international cohort, Ann Surg, 266, 693, 10.1097/SLA.0000000000002360 Li, 2012, Salvage liver transplantation in the treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma: a meta-analysis, World J Gastroenterol, 18, 2415, 10.3748/wjg.v18.i19.2415 Zhu, 2013, Short- and long-term outcomes after salvage liver transplantation versus primary liver transplantation for hepatocellular carcinoma: a meta-analysis, Transpl Proc, 45, 3329, 10.1016/j.transproceed.2013.06.004 Levi Sandri, 2019, Laparoscopic liver resection of hepatocellular carcinoma located in unfavorable segments: a propensity score-matched analysis from the I Go MILS (Italian Group of Minimally Invasive Liver Surgery) Registry, Surg Endosc, 33, 1451, 10.1007/s00464-018-6426-3 Fancellu, 2011, Meta-analysis of trials comparing minimally-invasive and open liver resections for hepatocellular carcinoma, J Surg Res, 171, e33, 10.1016/j.jss.2011.07.008 Cheng, 2022, Pure laparoscopic liver resection versus percutaneous radiofrequency ablation for small hepatocellular carcinoma: a propensity score and multivariate analysis, Transl Cancer Res, 11, 43, 10.21037/tcr-21-1045 Lee, 2021, Laparoscopic liver resection versus percutaneous radiofrequency ablation for small single nodular hepatocellular carcinoma: comparison of treatment outcomes, Liver Cancer, 10, 25, 10.1159/000510909 Jin, 2020, Radiofrequency ablation versus laparoscopic hepatectomy for treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma: a systematic review and meta-analysis, World J Surg Oncol, 18, 199, 10.1186/s12957-020-01966-w Wiesner, 2004, Liver transplantation for hepatocellular cancer: the impact of the MELD allocation policy, Gastroenterology, 127, S261, 10.1053/j.gastro.2004.09.040 Kwong, 2022, National trends and waitlist outcomes of locoregional therapy among liver transplant candidates with hepatocellular carcinoma in the United States, Clin Gastroenterol Hepatol, 20, 1142, 10.1016/j.cgh.2021.07.048 Kwong, 2022, Decreased urgency among liver transplantation candidates with hepatocellular carcinoma in the United States, Liver Transplant, 28, 725, 10.1002/lt.26373 Chernyak, 2018, Liver imaging reporting and data System (LI-RADS) version 2018: imaging of hepatocellular carcinoma in at-risk patients, Radiology, 289, 816, 10.1148/radiol.2018181494 Mehta, 2016, Intention to treat outcome of T1 hepatocellular carcinoma with the "wait and not ablate" approach until meeting T2 criteria for liver transplant listing, Liver Transpl, 22, 178, 10.1002/lt.24360 Ivanics, 2022, Long-term outcomes of ablation, liver resection, and liver transplant as first-line treatment for solitary HCC of 3 cm or less using an intention-to-treat analysis: a retrospective cohort study, Ann Med Surg (Lond), 77 Sogawa, 2013, Resection or transplant-listing for solitary hepatitis C-associated hepatocellular carcinoma: an intention-to-treat analysis, HPB, 15, 134, 10.1111/j.1477-2574.2012.00548.x Schoenberg, 2017, Resection or transplant in early hepatocellular carcinoma, Dtsch Arztebl Int, 114, 519 Zori, 2021, Favorable survival with non-curative treatments for patients with early-stage hepatocellular carcinoma after liver transplant denial, Dig Dis Sci, 66, 628, 10.1007/s10620-020-06201-w Kwong, 2022, National trends and waitlist outcomes of locoregional therapy among liver transplant candidates with hepatocellular carcinoma in the United States, Clin Gastroenterol Hepatol, 20, 1142, 10.1016/j.cgh.2021.07.048 Crocetti, 2021, Locoregional treatments for bridging and downstaging HCC to liver transplantation, Cancers (Basel), 13, 10.3390/cancers13215558 Sapisochin, 2017, Stereotactic body radiotherapy vs. TACE or RFA as a bridge to transplant in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma. An intention-to-treat analysis, J Hepatol, 67, 92, 10.1016/j.jhep.2017.02.022 Doyle, 2019, Outcomes of radiofrequency ablation as first-line therapy for hepatocellular carcinoma less than 3 cm in potentially transplantable patients, J Hepatol, 70, 866, 10.1016/j.jhep.2018.12.027 Wu, 2022, Abstract No. 261 Cost-effectiveness analysis of interventional liver-directed therapies for a single, small (<3 cm) hepatocellular carcinoma in liver transplant candidates, J Vasc Interv Radiol, 33, S120, 10.1016/j.jvir.2022.03.342 Merion, 2005, The survival benefit of liver transplantation, Am J Transplant, 5, 307, 10.1111/j.1600-6143.2004.00703.x Mazzaferro, 2016, Squaring the circle of selection and allocation in liver transplantation for HCC: an adaptive approach, Hepatology, 63, 1707, 10.1002/hep.28420 Mehta, 2019, Predictors of low risk for dropout from the liver transplant waiting list for hepatocellular carcinoma in long wait time regions: implications for organ allocation, Am J Transpl, 19, 2210, 10.1111/ajt.15353 Fang, 2014, Comparison of long-term effectiveness and complications of radiofrequency ablation with hepatectomy for small hepatocellular carcinoma, J Gastroenterol Hepatol, 29, 193, 10.1111/jgh.12441 Chen, 2006, A prospective randomized trial comparing percutaneous local ablative therapy and partial hepatectomy for small hepatocellular carcinoma, Ann Surg, 243, 321, 10.1097/01.sla.0000201480.65519.b8 Huang, 2010, A randomized trial comparing radiofrequency ablation and surgical resection for HCC conforming to the Milan criteria, Ann Surg, 252, 903, 10.1097/SLA.0b013e3181efc656 Xu, 2018, Radiofrequency ablation versus hepatic resection for small hepatocellular carcinoma: systematic review of randomized controlled trials with meta-analysis and trial sequential analysis, Radiology, 287, 461, 10.1148/radiol.2017162756 Cucchetti, 2013, Cost-effectiveness of hepatic resection versus percutaneous radiofrequency ablation for early hepatocellular carcinoma, J Hepatol, 59, 300, 10.1016/j.jhep.2013.04.009 Ikeda, 2005, Cost-effectiveness of radiofrequency ablation and surgical therapy for small hepatocellular carcinoma of 3cm or less in diameter, Hepatol Res, 33, 241, 10.1016/j.hepres.2005.09.002 Huang, 2014, Quality of life after surgical resection compared with radiofrequency ablation for small hepatocellular carcinomas, Br J Surg, 101, 1006, 10.1002/bjs.9539 Brace, 2009, Radiofrequency and microwave ablation of the liver, lung, kidney, and bone: what are the differences?, Curr Probl Diagn Radiol, 38, 135, 10.1067/j.cpradiol.2007.10.001 Poulou, 2015, Percutaneous microwave ablation vs radiofrequency ablation in the treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma, World J Hepatol, 7, 1054, 10.4254/wjh.v7.i8.1054 Li, 2016, Improvement of ablative margins by the intraoperative use of CEUS-CT/MR image fusion in hepatocellular carcinoma, BMC Cancer, 16, 277, 10.1186/s12885-016-2306-1 Salem, 2004, Use of Yttrium-90 glass microspheres (TheraSphere) for the treatment of unresectable hepatocellular carcinoma in patients with portal vein thrombosis, J Vasc Interv Radiol, 15, 335, 10.1097/01.RVI.0000123319.20705.92 Memon, 2013, Radioembolization for hepatocellular carcinoma with portal vein thrombosis: impact of liver function on systemic treatment options at disease progression, J Hepatol, 58, 73, 10.1016/j.jhep.2012.09.003 Kulik, 2008, Safety and efficacy of 90Y radiotherapy for hepatocellular carcinoma with and without portal vein thrombosis, Hepatology, 47, 71, 10.1002/hep.21980 Llovet, 2008, Sorafenib in advanced hepatocellular carcinoma, N Engl J Med, 359, 378, 10.1056/NEJMoa0708857 Riaz, 2011, Radiation segmentectomy: a novel approach to increase safety and efficacy of radioembolization, Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys, 79, 163, 10.1016/j.ijrobp.2009.10.062 Salem, 2016, Y90 radioembolization significantly prolongs time to progression compared with chemoembolization in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma, Gastroenterology, 151, 1155, 10.1053/j.gastro.2016.08.029 Padia, 2017, Segmental yttrium-90 radioembolization versus segmental chemoembolization for localized hepatocellular carcinoma: results of a single-center, retrospective, propensity score-matched study, J Vasc Interv Radiol, 28, 777, 10.1016/j.jvir.2017.02.018 Salem, 2021, Yttrium-90 radioembolization for the treatment of solitary, unresectable HCC: the LEGACY study, Hepatology, 74, 2342, 10.1002/hep.31819 Kim, 2022, Radiation segmentectomy for curative intent of unresectable very early to early stage hepatocellular carcinoma (RASER): a single-centre, single-arm study, Lancet Gastroenterol Hepatol, 7, 843, 10.1016/S2468-1253(22)00091-7 Arndt, 2021, Evaluation of medium-term efficacy of Y90 radiation segmentectomy vs percutaneous microwave ablation in patients with solitary surgically unresectable < 4 cm hepatocellular carcinoma: a propensity score matched study, CardioVascular Interv Radiol, 44, 401, 10.1007/s00270-020-02712-1 Vouche, 2014, Unresectable solitary hepatocellular carcinoma not amenable to radiofrequency ablation: multicenter radiology-pathology correlation and survival of radiation segmentectomy, Hepatology, 60, 192, 10.1002/hep.27057 Manas, 2021, The cost-effectiveness of TheraSphere in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma who are eligible for transarterial embolization, Eur J Surg Oncol, 47, 401, 10.1016/j.ejso.2020.08.027 Ni, 2013, Meta-analysis of radiofrequency ablation in combination with transarterial chemoembolization for hepatocellular carcinoma, World J Gastroenterol, 19, 3872, 10.3748/wjg.v19.i24.3872 Biederman, 2017, Radiation segmentectomy versus TACE combined with microwave ablation for unresectable solitary hepatocellular carcinoma up to 3 cm: a propensity score matching study, Radiology, 283, 895, 10.1148/radiol.2016160718 Ginsburg, 2015, Comparison of combination therapies in the management of hepatocellular carcinoma: transarterial chemoembolization with radiofrequency ablation versus microwave ablation, J Vasc Interv Radiol, 26, 330, 10.1016/j.jvir.2014.10.047 Abdelaziz, 2017, Transarterial chemoembolization combined with either radiofrequency or microwave ablation in management of hepatocellular carcinoma, Asian Pac J Cancer Prev, 18, 189 Burrel, 2012, Survival of patients with hepatocellular carcinoma treated by transarterial chemoembolisation (TACE) using Drug Eluting Beads. Implications for clinical practice and trial design, J Hepatol, 56, 1330, 10.1016/j.jhep.2012.01.008 Szpakowski, 2017, Rate of seeding with biopsies and ablations of hepatocellular carcinoma: a retrospective cohort study, Hepatol Commun, 1, 841, 10.1002/hep4.1089 Otto, 2006, Response to transarterial chemoembolization as a biological selection criterion for liver transplantation in hepatocellular carcinoma, Liver Transplant, 12, 1260, 10.1002/lt.20837 Millonig, 2007, Response to preoperative chemoembolization correlates with outcome after liver transplantation in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma, Liver Transplant, 13, 272, 10.1002/lt.21033 Lammer, 2010, Prospective randomized study of doxorubicin-eluting-bead embolization in the treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma: results of the PRECISION V study, Cardiovasc Intervent Radiol, 33, 41, 10.1007/s00270-009-9711-7 Golfieri, 2014, Randomised controlled trial of doxorubicin-eluting beads vs conventional chemoembolisation for hepatocellular carcinoma, Br J Cancer, 111, 255, 10.1038/bjc.2014.199 Durand-Labrunie, 2020, Curative irradiation treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma: a multicenter phase 2 trial, Int J Radiat Oncology∗Biology∗Physics, 107, 116, 10.1016/j.ijrobp.2019.12.004 Hara, 2019, Radiotherapy for hepatocellular carcinoma results in comparable survival to radiofrequency ablation: a propensity score analysis, Hepatology, 69, 2533, 10.1002/hep.30591 Sanuki, 2014, Stereotactic body radiotherapy for small hepatocellular carcinoma: a retrospective outcome analysis in 185 patients, Acta Oncologica, 53, 399, 10.3109/0284186X.2013.820342 Mathew, 2020, Long term outcomes of stereotactic body radiation therapy for hepatocellular carcinoma without macrovascular invasion, Eur J Cancer, 134, 41, 10.1016/j.ejca.2020.04.024 Gresswell, 2018, Stereotactic body radiotherapy used as a bridge to liver transplant in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma and Child-Pugh score ≥8 cirrhosis, J Radiosurg SBRT, 5, 261 Moore, 2017, Stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT) for definitive treatment and as a bridge to liver transplantation in early stage inoperable Hepatocellular carcinoma, Radiat Oncol, 12, 163, 10.1186/s13014-017-0899-4 Hong, 2021, Stereotactic body radiation therapy versus radiofrequency ablation in patients with small hepatocellular carcinoma: a systematic review and meta-analysis, Hepatobiliary Surg Nutr, 10, 623, 10.21037/hbsn.2020.03.15 Kim, 2021, Proton beam radiotherapy vs. radiofrequency ablation for recurrent hepatocellular carcinoma: a randomized phase III trial, J Hepatol, 74, 603, 10.1016/j.jhep.2020.09.026 Pan, 2010, Radiation-associated liver injury, Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys, 76, S94, 10.1016/j.ijrobp.2009.06.092 Klein, 2015, Prospective longitudinal assessment of quality of life for liver cancer patients treated with stereotactic body radiation therapy, Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phy, 93, 16, 10.1016/j.ijrobp.2015.04.016 Yuen, 2022, A systematic review of cost-effectiveness analyses for hepatocellular carcinoma treatment, PharmacoEcon Open, 6, 9, 10.1007/s41669-021-00298-z Landman, 2011, Which is more cost-effective under the MELD system: primary liver transplantation, or salvage transplantation after hepatic resection or after loco-regional therapy for hepatocellular carcinoma within Milan criteria?, HPB (Oxford), 13, 783, 10.1111/j.1477-2574.2011.00355.x Lim, 2015, Cost-effectiveness analysis of liver resection versus transplantation for early hepatocellular carcinoma within the Milan criteria, Hepatology, 61, 227, 10.1002/hep.27135 Llovet, 2002, Cost effectiveness of adjuvant therapy for hepatocellular carcinoma during the waiting list for liver transplantation, Gut, 50, 123, 10.1136/gut.50.1.123 Maegawa, 2019, Cost-utility analysis of primary liver transplant versus salvage liver transplant after hepatectomy for hepatocellular carcinoma, HPB, 21, S78, 10.1016/j.hpb.2019.03.130 Naugler, 2010, Survival and cost-effectiveness analysis of competing strategies in the management of small hepatocellular carcinoma, Liver Transplant, 16, 1186, 10.1002/lt.22129 Rostambeigi, 2014, Cost effectiveness of radioembolization compared with conventional transarterial chemoembolization for treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma, J Vasc Interv Radiol JVIR, 25, 1075, 10.1016/j.jvir.2014.04.014 Sarasin, 1998, Partial hepatectomy or orthotopic liver transplantation for the treatment of resectable hepatocellular carcinoma? A cost-effectiveness perspective, Hepatology, 28, 436, 10.1002/hep.510280222