Why cannot liver cancer patients in early stages receive curative treatment?

What is it about?

A significant fraction of the BCLC 0/A HCC patients is unable to have initial curative treatment as recommended by BCLC guidelines. These early stages of HCC patients represent a distinctive subpopulation and are in need of further investigation to improve their survival outcomes.

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Why is it important?

Two main reasons for not having the initial curative treatment were “probable presence of additional HCC and requiring diagnostic angiography” (28%) and “difficult or complicating anatomical location of tumors” (17%). When the relevant clinical parameters were compared between the 2 groups of patients, it was found that patients without the initial curative treatment had more serious clinical conditions and worse overall and recurrence-free survival outcomes compared with those who had the initial curative treatment.