Journal of Hepatocellular Carcinoma (Sep 2022)
Recurrent Hepatocellular Carcinoma: Patterns, Detection, Staging and Treatment
Abstract
Dimitrios Papaconstantinou,1 Diamantis I Tsilimigras,2 Timothy M Pawlik2 1Third Department of Surgery, Attikon University Hospital, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Athens, Greece; 2Department of Surgery, Division of Surgical Oncology, The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center and James Comprehensive Cancer Center, Columbus, Ohio, USACorrespondence: Timothy M Pawlik, Department of Surgery, The Urban Meyer III and Shelley Meyer Chair for Cancer Research, The Ohio State University, Wexner Medical Center, 395 W. 12th Ave., Suite 670, Columbus, OH, USA, Tel +1 614 293 8701, Fax +1 614 293 4063, Email [email protected]: Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the third most common cause of cancer-related deaths worldwide with the incidence of recurrence being as high as 88% even among patients who have undergone curative-intent treatment. Despite improvements in overall survival, recurrence remains a challenge necessitating accurate reappraisal of patient and disease status. To that end, accurate staging of recurrent HCC is a necessity to provide better care for these patients. Risk factors for poor survival after HCC recurrence have been identified and include characteristics of the primary disease, such as tumor multifocality, large size (≥ 5 cm), macroscopic vascular or microscopic lymphovascular invasion, preoperative a-fetoprotein (AFP) levels, R0 resection, and the presence of impaired liver function. Close surveillance with imaging is warranted following curative-intent therapy, with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) being the preferred approach to identify small, early recurrent HCCs. Treatment decisions at the time of recurrence involve ruling out extrahepatic disease and identifying candidates for potentially curative-intent repeat treatment options. Patients with recurrent disease are, however, very diverse in terms of tumor morphology and biologic behavior, as well as residual hepatic functional reserve. Patients with preserved liver function may benefit from repeat liver resection or ablation. Patients with recurrence within the Milan criteria may even be candidates for salvage liver transplantation, while multimodality treatment with combination of liver-directed therapies appears to enhance oncologic outcomes for individuals with advanced recurrent disease. A “one-size-fits-all” approach in staging recurrent HCC does not exist. Rather, individualized and evidence-based decision-making is necessary in order to optimize outcomes for patients with recurrent HCC.Keywords: hepatocellular carcinoma, recurrence, staging, treatment, classification
