Selecting the right patients for testing novel agents in hepatocellular carcinoma: who, when and how?

Integration of albumin–bilirubin (ALBI) score into Barcelona Clinic Liver Cancer (BCLC) system for hepatocellular carcinoma

“…For example, BCLC stage C and selected stage B patients are frequently recommended to be trial candidates for novel agents. Currently, most clinical trials on HCC have eligibility criteria of excluding patients with an expected OS of shorter than 3 months, who are believed to have more aggressive disease and be less suitable for clinical trials . However, the judgement on expected survival of patients mostly relies on clinicians' subjective assessments.…”

“…Currently, most clinical trials on HCC have eligibility criteria of excluding patients with an expected OS of shorter than 3 months, who are believed to have more aggressive disease and be less suitable for clinical trials. 19 However, the judgement on expected survival of patients mostly relies on clinicians' subjective assessments. The use of the ALBI-based staging system in identification of more 7 suitable candidates is potentially helpful and requires further investigations.…”

International validation of the Chinese University Prognostic Index for staging of hepatocellular carcinoma: a joint United Kingdom and Hong Kong study

“…For patients who are scheduled to undergo curative treatment, the most important aim of a staging system should be the determination of risk for recurrence, thereby predicting long-term survival. On the other hand, for patients with extensive tumors and advanced liver disease who are unsuitable for curative treatment, the primary aim of a staging system should be the accurate prediction of short-term survival so that patients with terminal disease are precluded from complex trial procedures or aggressive treatment [27] . The results of the current study support the concept of separate staging systems to estimate the prognosis of patients undergoing either curative or palliative treatment.…”

Applicability of BALAD score in prognostication of hepatitis B‐related hepatocellular carcinoma

“…Currently, clinical trials routinely require investigators to exclude patients with OS of shorter than 3 months, who are believed to have more aggressive disease and be less suitable for the clinical trial . According to the American Association for the Study of Liver Disease guidelines, BCLC stage C patients are recommended to be the target population for drug testing.…”