Downstaging strategies for unresectable hepatocellular carcinoma.

A significant number of patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) are usually diagnosed in advanced stages, that leads to inability to achieve cure. Palliative options are focusing on downstaging a locally advanced disease. It is well-supported in the literature that patients with HCC who undergo successful conversion therapy followed by curative-intent surgery may achieve a significant survival benefit compared to those who receive chemotherapy alone or those who are successfully downstaged with conversion therapy but not treated with surgery. Hepatic artery infusion chemotherapy can be a potential downstaging strategy, since recent studies have demonstrated excellent outcomes in patients with colorectal liver metastatic disease as well as primary liver malignancies.
Competing Interests: Conflict-of-interest statement: All the authors report no relevant conflicts of interest for this article.
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