Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is common in the Far East and South Africa, but is rare in the United States and Europe. The vast experience of the East, which has led to marked improvement in the prognosis of patients with HCC, is made available to researchers worldwide in this monograph. The book is based on an enormous amount of data that has been collected and analyzed by the Liver Cancer Study Group of Japan. The data stems from a survey on HCC in Japan since 1965 and contains information from more than 30,000 patients with regard to age distribution, past medical history, diagnostic procedures, frequency of HBV-associated antigens and antibodies, surgical and conservative treatments, gross anatomical and histological features of the tumors, pathology of the noncancerous portions, distant metastasis, and survival rate. This data is a tremendous contribution to our understanding of the epidemiology, pathology, and the latest developments of the molecular biology and clinical problems of primary liver cancer.

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1 Epidemiology.- 1 Epidemiology of primary liver cancer.- 2 Pathology.- 2 Pathology of primary liver cancer.- 3 Hepatocellular carcinoma in the early stage.- 4 Pathomorphology of advanced hepatocellular carcinoma.- 5 Pathology of cholangiocellular carcinoma.- 3 Etiology.- 6 Historical overview of research into the etiology of hepatocellular carcinoma.- 7 The role of HBV in hepatocellular carcinoma.- 8 Hepatitis C virus infection and hepatocellular carcinoma.- 9 Molecular biology of hepatitis B virus and hepatocellular carcinoma.- 4 Diagnosis.- Section 1 Clinical features and diagnosis.- 10 Clinical features and diagnosis of primary liver cancer.- Section 2 Diagnostic imaging.- 11 An overview of diagnostic imaging techniques for detecting hepatocellular carcinoma.- 12 Ultrasonographic diagnosis of hepatocellular carcinoma.- 13 Diagnosis of primary liver cancer by computed tomography.- 14 Diagnosis of primary liver cancer using magnetic resonance imaging.- 15 Hepatic angiography in hepatocellular carcinoma: status among modern imaging modalities and its role as a further examination.- Section 3 Tumor markers.- 16 Lectin-binding analysis of serum alpha-fetoprotein: predictive importance of the change of AFP sugar chain in the development of hepatocellular carcinoma.- 5 Hepatic function.- Section 1 Evaluation of hepatic function.- 17 Evaluation of hepatic function.- Section 2 Hepatic functional reserve and surgical indication.- 18 Hepatic functional reserve and surgical indication in primary liver cancer.- 6 Mass screening.- 19 Mass survey of hepatocellular carcinoma by ultrasound.- 7 Treatment.- Section 1 Surgical treatment.- 20 Improving survival after resection of hepatocellular carcinoma: characteristics and current status of surgical treatment of primary liver cancer in Japan.- 21 Extended surgery for malignant liver tumors.- 22 Anatomical resection of the right hepatic subsegments preceded by suprahilar ligation of the portal pedicles.- 23 Systematic subsegmentectomy for hepatocellular carcinoma.- 24 Results of surgical treatment: follow up study by Liver Cancer Study Group of Japan.- Section 2 Conservative and multidisciplinary treatment.- 25 Transcatheter arterial chemoembolization for unresectable hepatocellular carcinoma.- 26 Arterial infusion therapy: Lipiodol-cytostatics with and without embolization.- 27 Preoperative portal vein embolization for hepatocellular carcinoma.- 28 Percutaneous ethanol injection for patients with small hepatocellular carcinoma.- 29 Systemic chemotherapy for hepatocellular carcinoma.- 30 Present status of immunotherapy of hepatocellular carcinoma.- 31 Radiofrequency hyperthermia and radiotherapy for hepatocellular carcinoma.- 32 Multidisciplinary treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma.- 33 Multidisciplinary treatment for multiple hepatocellular carcinoma.- 8 Recurrence.- 34 Clinicopathological features of recurrent primary liver cancer in Japan.- 35 Treatment of recurrent primary liver cancer in Japan.- Addendum (1).- 36 Pathology, diagnosis, and treatment for small liver cancer.- 37 Transplantation for liver cancer.- 38 Overview of the general rules for the clinical and pathological study of primary liver cancer in Japan.- 39 Diagnosis of cholangiocellular carcinoma.- 40 Investigation of surgical treatment for cholangiocellular carcinoma.- Addendum (2).- 41 Hepatocellular carcinoma in Taiwan.- 42 Prognostic factors in surgical patients with hepatocellular carcinoma.- 43 Management of hepatocellular carcinoma in Hong Kong: The Queen Mary Hospital experience.- 44 Treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma: A summary of 33 years' experience.- Addendum (3).- 45 Summary of the data from a follow-up study by the Liver Cancer Study of Japan.