Treatment of early hepatocellular carcinoma: Towards personalized therapy

In recent years, the wide implementation of surveillance programs has led to diagnose HCC at earlier stages, when curative options can be applied. In order to obtain the best results, treatment indication should take into account the estimation of baseline life expectancy. Patients at an early stage are those with single HCC or up to three nodules <3 cm with preserved liver function (Child-Pugh A–B) and no cancer related symptoms. These patients should be evaluated for any of the therapies that can offer complete responses with potential long-term cure, as reflected by a 5 years survival superior to 50–70%. These include surgical resection, liver transplantation and ablation. We briefly reviewed therapeutic management for early HCC, taking into account that any recommendation should be delivered in the clinical setting and based on an individualised evaluation of each patient.