Hepatocellular carcinoma beyond Barcelona clinic liver cancer resection criteria: resecting the aggressive tumor

Abstract

According to the Barcelona Clinic Liver Cancer (BCLC) staging system, surgical resection is recommended only for BCLC-0 and BCLC-A hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Nevertheless, several investigators have recently advocated for widening the resection criteria for HCC to select patients with BCLC-B and less frequently BCLC-C tumors. The available studies have reported a 5-year survival rate ranging from 25% to 63% following resection of select patients with multinodular HCC. The role of liver resection for macrovascular invasive HCC still remains unclear. The present review aimed to summarize the available evidence regarding the outcomes of patients who underwent resection for BCLC-B/C HCC as well as highlight the proposed criteria for resection beyond the current BCLC guidelines.