Figure 1.

Strategy for staging and treatment assignment in patient with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) according to the barcelona clinic liver cancer (BCLC) criteria. BCLC staging system was developed based on the collection of data from several independent studies representing different disease stages and/or treatment modalities. It includes variables related to tumor stage, liver functional status, physical status and cancer related symptoms. The main advantage of the BCLC criteria staging system is that it links staging with treatment modalities and with an estimation of life expectancy that is based on published response rates to the various treatments. Early stage disease includes patients with preserved liver function (Child-Pugh Class A and B) with solitary HCC or up to 3 nodules < 3 cm in diameter. These patients can be effectively treated by resection, transplantation or percutaneous ablation with the possibility for long-term survival ranging from 50% to 75%.