-Review-

Medical Treatment for Hepatocellular Carcinoma in Japan

Youichi Kawano¹, Yohei Kaneya¹, Yuto Aoki¹, Masato Yoshioka², Akira Matsushita², Tetsuya Shimizu², Junji Ueda¹, Hideyuki Takata³, Nobuhiko Taniai³, Tomohiro Kanda⁴, Atsushi Hirakata⁴, Hideyuki Suzuki¹ and Hiroshi Yoshida²

¹Department of Surgery, Nippon Medical School Chiba Hokusoh Hospital, Chiba, Japan
²Department of Gastrointestinal and Hepato-Biliary-Pancreatic Surgery, Nippon Medical School Hospital, Tokyo, Japan
³Department of Digestive Surgery, Nippon Medical School Musashikosugi Hospital, Kanagawa, Japan
⁴Department of Surgery, Nippon Medical School Tama Nagayama Hospilal, Tokyo, Japan

Liver cancer, including hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), is the fifth most common cause of cancer deaths in Japan. The main treatment options for HCC are surgical resection, liver transplantation, radiofrequency ablation (RFA), transarterial chemoembolization (TACE), and systemic chemotherapy. Here, recent medical treatments for HCC, including surgery, percutaneous ablation, transcatheter arterial chemoembolization/transcatheter arterial embolization, and drug therapy, are reviewed with a focus on Japan.

J Nippon Med Sch 2022; 89: 154-160

Correspondence to
Youichi Kawano, Department of Surgery, Nippon Medical School Chiba Hokusoh Hospital, 1715 Kamagari, Inzai, Chiba 270-1694, Japan
y-kawano@nms.ac.jp

Received, September 10, 2021
Accepted, November 10, 2021