Hepatic resection for hepatocellular carcinoma

Hepatic resection has become the standard treatment of primary liver cancer. Indications for hepatic resection in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) vary greatly between Japan and other countries because the clinical practice guidelines for HCC defined by the Japan Society of Hepatology differ from the EASL-EORTC clinical practice guidelines. Hepatic resection is not recommended as a treatment for the patients at Barcelona Clinic Liver Cancer (BCLC) stage B. Otherwise, there are many surgeons/clinicians who believe that not all HCC patients at BCLC stage B should be excluded from an indication for hepatectomy because many reports showed good prognosis after hepatic resection for HCC patients over BCLC stage B. The survival rate is expected to increase with better outcomes of hepatectomy in the future. This paper has described indications for hepatectomy for patients with HCC through comparison of domestic guidelines with overseas guidelines, focusing on their differences.