Minimally invasive therapies for hepatocellular carcinoma: narrowing the gaps

With increasing awareness of the HCC epidemic around the globe, early diagnosis of tumors provides a greater opportunity to benefit patients from liver-directed treatments including surgical resection, ablation, catheter-based therapies and external beam radiation. Development of new approaches and refinement of existing techniques have improved our capabilities to provide efficacious and safe means of local disease control. The choice of treatment for individual patients hinges heavily on factors related to the tumor, underlying hepatic function, and existing co-morbidities. Recent advances in minimally invasive therapies across all disciplines have augmented our ability to eradicate the tumor while preserving liver parenchyma. In this review, we discuss and summarize current minimally invasive options that are available to treat HCCs that are confirmed to the liver, especially in their early stages. Emerging evidence suggest that resection, ablation and radiation can all provide excellent local control, and this opens more options for patients to best suit their needs