Curative and Palliative Treatment Options for Patients With Hepatocellular Carcinoma

Amit Singal, MD, medical director of the Liver Cancer Program at UT Southwestern Medical Center, discusses the current treatment landscape for patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and how the treatments differ among patients diagnosed in the early stage versus late stage at the 2019 International Liver Cancer Association Annual Conference.

For patients with HCC where the disease is caught at an early stage, curative options are available, Singal says. These therapies include surgical resection of the liver, local ablation, and liver transplantation. These treatments can afford a 5-year survival in over 60% of patients.

However, Singal notes that patients with disease found at a more intermediate or advanced stage have different treatment options, including palliative therapies such as chemoembolization, radioembolization, radiation-based therapies, or systemic therapies, like tyrosine kinase inhibitors.