She WH, Cheung TT. Options and survival benefits of conversion therapy for unresectable hepatocellular carcinoma. World J Gastroenterol 2024; 30(18): 2479-2481 [PMID: 38764761 DOI: 10.3748/wjg.v30.i18.2479]
Corresponding Author of This Article
Tan To Cheung, MD, Professor, Department of Surgery, The University of Hong Kong, No. 102 Pok Fu Lam Road, Hong Kong 999077, China. tantocheung@hotmail.com
Research Domain of This Article
Surgery
Article-Type of This Article
Letter to the Editor
Open-Access Policy of This Article
This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
World J Gastroenterol. May 14, 2024; 30(18): 2479-2481 Published online May 14, 2024. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v30.i18.2479
Options and survival benefits of conversion therapy for unresectable hepatocellular carcinoma
Wong Hoi She, Tan To Cheung
Wong Hoi She, Tan To Cheung, Department of Surgery, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong 999077, China
Author contributions: She WH performed the research and wrote the manuscript; Cheung TT provided supervision. All authors have read and approved the final manuscript.
Conflict-of-interest statement: All authors do not have any conflict of interest.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Tan To Cheung, MD, Professor, Department of Surgery, The University of Hong Kong, No. 102 Pok Fu Lam Road, Hong Kong 999077, China. tantocheung@hotmail.com
Received: October 19, 2023 Revised: February 13, 2024 Accepted: April 22, 2024 Published online: May 14, 2024 Processing time: 205 Days and 9.9 Hours
Abstract
In the study by Wu et al, patients with unresectable hepatocellular carcinoma were subjected to transarterial chemoembolization (TACE) as a conversion therapy in order to render their tumors suitable for resection. A nomogram was devised and shown to be effective in predicting the survival of these patients. Generalization of the results, however, is questionable since the study subjects consisted of patients who had resection after TACE while excluding patients with the same disease but not suitable for TACE. Immunotherapy can be considered to be an option for conversion therapy. However, markers for determining responses to a conversion therapy and for guiding the decision between TACE and sequential immunotherapy have been lacking. The question of whether effective conversion therapy can truly enhance overall survival remains unanswered.
Core Tip: In addition to transarterial chemoembolization (TACE), immunotherapy should also be among the options for conversion therapy for rendering unresectable hepatocellular carcinoma suitable for resection. For patients unsuitable for TACE, immunotherapy can be an alternative.
