Abstract

Although a number of systems have been proposed to predict the prognosis for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) over the past 20 years, there is no general acceptance on which of these is the most useful and reliable. The reason for this is that HCC population is heterogeneous in hepatic reserve even in the same tumor stage, and the patient survival is indeed affected by a number of factors such as underlying liver function, performance status, treatment efficacy, as well as the extent of tumor burden. In this paper, several current staging models taking into account tumor and other clinical parameters are overviewed, and their characteristics and clinical applicability for HCC patients are discussed.

• Keywords: Hepatocellular Carcinoma;Survival;Prognosis