Abstract

There has been no proven effective therapy in the setting of advanced HCC (hepatocellular carcinoma) according to BCLC (Barcelona Clinic Liver Cancer). Targeted therapy opened a new era in this subset of patients. Although sorafenib showed survival benefit, objective tumor response is uncommon, while systemic chemotherapies sometimes show partial tumor response without statistically significant survival benefits. These findings suggest evaluation of treatment response should not depend on conventional treatment response evaluation criteria. Overall survival is now considered to be the most important endpoint and time to disease progression can be secondary endpoint. Time to recurrence is the primary endpoint after the curative therapy. Currently, targeted therapy in addition to known curative or palliative therapy is now under investigation for synergistic effects, and new therapeutic agents are under development. Such advancement in the treatment of HCC will certainly have a great impact on patients’ survival in the near future.

• Keywords: Hepatocellular carcinoma;Targeted therapy;Response;Survival