TY - JOUR AU - Kudo, Masatoshi AB - Background: Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the fifth most common type of cancer and the third leading cause of cancer-related death worldwide. HCC is most common in Asia, but its prevalence is rapidly increasing in Western countries; consequently, HCC is a global medical issue that urgently needs to be addressed. Japan is the only developed country that has experienced both hepatitis B-related and hepatitis C-related HCC and has a long history of innovation when it comes to new diagnostic and therapeutic modalities, such as computed tomography angiography, anatomical resection, ablation, and transarterial chemoembolization. Among these innovations, a nationwide surveillance program was well established by the 1980s, and such a long-term national program does not exist anywhere else in the world. Summary: More than 60% of the initially detected HCCs in Japan are Barcelona Clinic Liver Cancer stage 0 or A, which can undergo curative therapies such as resection, ablation, or transplantation. The recent 5-year survival rate of HCC patients in Japan was 43% and the median survival time was 50 months. In addition, both incidence and mortality rates are drastically declining as a result of the successful surveillance program, careful diagnostic flow, and extensive repeated treatments. Key Message: Japan's successful model in the surveillance, diagnosis, and treatment of HCC should be adopted as widely as possible to improve the survival of HCC patients worldwide. TI - Surveillance, Diagnosis, Treatment, and Outcome of Liver Cancer in Japan JF - Liver Cancer DO - 10.1159/000367727 DA - 2015-01-01 UR - https://www.deepdyve.com/lp/karger/surveillance-diagnosis-treatment-and-outcome-of-liver-cancer-in-japan-R0r5aICZma SP - 39 EP - 50 VL - 4 IS - 1 DP - DeepDyve ER -