When treating Childs A cirrhotic patients with solitary HCC larger than 3 cm but less than 5 cm, or with two or three lesions each less than 5 cm, surgical resection provides a better survival than RFA. When treating Childs A cirrhotics with solitary HCC ≤ 3 cm, RFA has a comparable RFS to surgical resection, but RFA is less invasive.

BackgroundPrior work suggested that patients with inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD) have lower body mass index (BMI) than controls and patients with lower BMI have more serious complications.GoalThe study was aimed to find relationship between BMI in patients with and without IBD, investigate effects of medicine therapy and disease stages on patients’ BMI.MethodsPotentially eligible studies were identified through searching PubMed, Cochrane and Embase databases. Outcome measurements of mean BMI and the number of patients from each study were pooled by a random-effect model. Publication bias test, sensitivity analysis and subgroup analysis were conducted.ResultsA total of 24 studies containing 1442 patients and 2059 controls were included. Main results were as follows: (1) BMI in Crohn’s disease (CD) patients was lower than that in health controls (-1.88, 95% CI -2.77 to -1.00, P< 0.001); (2) Medical therapy significantly improved BMI of CD patients (with therapy: -1.58, -3.33 to 0.16; without: -2.09, 95% CI -3.21 to -0.98) while on the contrary not significantly improving BMI of UC patients (with therapy: -0.24, 95% CI -3.68 to 3.20; without: -1.34, 95% CI -2.87 to 0.20, P = 0.57); (3) Both CD and UC patients in active phase showed significantly greater BMI difference compared with controls than those in remission (CD patients: remission: -2.25, 95% CI -3.38 to -1.11; active phase: -4.25, 95% CI -5.58 to -2.92, P = 0.03; UC patients: remission: 0.4, 95% CI -2.05 to 2.84; active phase: -5.38, -6.78 to -3.97, P = 0.001).ConclusionsBMI is lower in CD patients; medical therapy couldn’t improve BMI of IBD patients; the state of disease affects BMI of CD patients and UC patients.

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Background/AimsThe aim of this study was to investigate the primary management experience for giant liver hemangiomas greater than 20 cm in size.MethodsRecords of patients referred for evaluation of radiologically and/or histopathologically proven giant liver hemangiomas between January 2007 and March 2010 were retrospectively analyzed. The reasons for referral, results of imaging studies, preoperative and surgical treatments, and outcome were reviewed.ResultsA retrospective analysis was performed for 14 patients diagnosed with a giant hemangioma on the basis of an imaging study and/or a histopathological examination. All cases were diagnosed as giant liver hemangioma with at least one lesion greater than 20 cm in size. Abdominal discomfort was the main presenting complaint for the referral in 9 patients (64.2%). Abdominal ultrasound established the diagnosis in 12 patients (85.7%). Twelve patients underwent liver resection, 2 of whom underwent staged resection. Enucleation was performed in 2 patients. Selective transcatheter arterial embolization was implemented in 9 patients. Postoperative morbidity occurred in 3 patients (21.4%). No complications related to the hemangiomas occurred during follow up.ConclusionsLiver resection is indicated for giant liver hemangiomas with abdominal discomfort, especially for lesions greater than 20 cm in size. Staged operations are performed for patients with multiple lesions. Preoperative selective transcatheter arterial embolization alleviates progressive abdominal pain.

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a common cancer worldwide with a poor prognosis. Few strategies have been proven efficient in HCC treatment, particularly for those patients not indicated for curative resection or transplantation. Immunotherapy has been developed for decades for cancer control and is attaining more attention as a result of encouraging outcomes of new strategies such as chimeric antigen receptor T cells and immune checkpoint blockade. Right at the front of the new era of immunotherapy, we review the immunotherapy in HCC treatment, from basic research to clinical trials, covering anything from immunomodulators, tumor vaccines and adoptive immunotherapy. The mechanisms, efficacy and safety as well as the approach particulars are unveiled to assist readers to gain a concise but extensive understanding of immunotherapy of HCC.