Clinical and Genomic Strategies for Detecting Hepatocellular Carcinoma in Early Stages: a Systematic Review

Hepatic cancer or liver cancer is a cancer that begins in the cells of the liver. Liver cancer consists of malignant hepatic tumors in or on the liver. Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the most common form of liver cancer, which begins in the main type of liver cell (hepatocyte). HCC classified as the fourth most common cancer in the world and is responsible for about a quarter of a million deaths annually [1]. The survival of patients is extremely poor by the time they present with symptoms associated with tumor [2]. The understanding of the natural history of HCC hampered by the variability of the tumors, which is affected by the co-occurrence of many factors in the same patient as well as by the presence of multiple distinct cell lines in the liver that may develop into liver cell cancer [3].