Histopathology of hepatocellular carcinoma - when and what

Abstract

When do you need to take biopsies of the liver, and what information will you get is the topic of this review on hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). If, clinically, the differential diagnosis of HCC after imaging is suggested, a biopsy has become obligatory as a diagnostic confirmation of HCC in the non-cirrhotic liver prior to definitive therapeutic interventions, as well as in a palliative therapy concept. In the case of hepatic lesions with an uncharacteristic contrast uptake, a biopsy should be performed immediately to confirm the diagnosis of HCC. After diagnosing HCC, a treatment strategy is evaluated. Further, the biopsy, or in case of surgical treatment, the resected tissue, shows us the different subtypes of HCC, with the steatohepatitic subtype being the most common and the lymphocyte-rich subtype being the least common. Further, the histological grade of HCC is determined according to the grading system of the WHO or the Edmonson and Steiner System. Through biopsies, HCC can be differentiated from intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma or combined hepatocellular-cholangiocarcinoma or metastases of other malignant tumors, especially metastases of the gastrointestinal tract. In summary, biopsies are fundamental in the diagnosis of HCC.

PET/CT with 18F-choline or 18F-FDG in Hepatocellular Carcinoma Submitted to 90Y-TARE: A Real-World Study

“…Table 2 shows the correlation between PET/CT’s results and histological findings in nine patients, who had been submitted to surgery ( n = 4) or biopsy ( n = 5), classified according to World Health Organization (WHO) [ 18 ].…”

NLRP3 inflammasome activation By 17β-estradiol is a potential therapeutic target in hepatocellular carcinoma treatment

“…Tumor grading based on hepatic cell differentiation was determined according to the Edmondson and Steiner (ES) grading system [ 15 , 16 ] and HCC staging was classified according to the TNM staging system for HCC released by the American Joint Committee on Cancer (AJCC) (8th edition) [ 17 ]. Detailed demographic and clinicopathologic characteristics of these HCC patients are described in (Table 1 ).…”

Exploring the therapeutic and anti-tumor properties of morusin: a review of recent advances

“…Synchronic carcinogenesis or early spread inside the liver, HCC is frequently multinodular at diagnosis and has a special propensity to grow inside blood vessels, penetrating the portal or hepatic veins. Synchronic carcinogenesis is the phenomenon of development of multiple tumors simultaneously which is a common factor in HCC ( Gisder et al, 2022 ). Although chemotherapy, radiation, immunotherapy, and surgery have long been used to treat HCCs, antiglycolytic drugs like 3-bromopyruvate may also be utilized alone or in combination with other traditional anticancer drugs like sorafenib ( Wu et al, 2021a ).…”