Treatment strategies of intermediate-stage hepatocellular carcinomas in Japan (Barcelona Clinic Liver Cancer stage B).

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the fifth most common cancer in the world, and it shows increasing incidence worldwide. The Barcelona Clinic Liver Cancer (BCLC) staging system has become widely accepted in clinical practice, but in Japan, two clinical practice guidelines have been used for HCC: the Evidence-Based Clinical Practice Guidelines and the Consensus-Based Clinical Practice Guidelines. Although, in Japan, chemoembolization is the first-line treatment of intermediate-stage (stage B) HCC patients in the BCLC staging system, along with chemoembolization, locoregional treatments, such as resection and radiofrequency ablation, and hepatic arterial infusion chemotherapy are incorporated into the treatment algorithm based on the tumor number and size as well as on the liver profile.