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World J Gastroenterol. Jun 7, 2019; 25(21): 2591-2602
Published online Jun 7, 2019. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v25.i21.2591
Liver transplantation for hepatocellular carcinoma: Where do we stand?
Francesco Santopaolo, Ilaria Lenci, Martina Milana, Tommaso Maria Manzia, Leonardo Baiocchi
Francesco Santopaolo, Ilaria Lenci, Martina Milana, Leonardo Baiocchi, Hepatology Unit, Department of Medicine, Policlinico Universitario Tor Vergata, Rome 00133, Italy
Tommaso Maria Manzia, Transplant Surgery Unit, Department of Surgery, Policlinico Universitario Tor Vergata, Rome 00133, Italy
Author contributions: Santopaolo F and Baiocchi L wrote the paper; Lenci I, Milana M, and Manzia TM collaborate with tables, retrieved references; Baiocchi L suggested the paper, elaborate table; Lenci I, Milana M, Manzia TM, and Baiocchi L revised the paper.
Conflict-of-interest statement: No potential conflicts of interest. No financial support.
Open-Access: 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/
Corresponding author: Leonardo Baiocchi, MD, PhD, Assistant Professor, Hepatology Unit, Department of Medicine, Policlinico Universitario Tor Vergata, Viale Oxford 81, Rome 00133, Italy. baiocchi@uniroma2.it
Telephone: +39-620902626
Received: February 28, 2019
Peer-review started: March 1, 2019
First decision: March 5, 2019
Revised: April 9, 2019
Accepted: April 29, 2019
Article in press: April 29, 2019
Published online: June 7, 2019
Processing time: 98 Days and 16.6 Hours
Core Tip

Core tip: Liver transplantation is an important tool for the treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma in human. In this review we focused on the main debated issues in this field including: (1) Criteria for candidate selection; (2) Bridging therapy to transplant; and (3) Down-staging of patients exceeding transplant criteria. Tumor recurrence rate in the graft and strategies to prevent this occurrence, are also discussed.