RECENT TRENDS IN MANAG MENT OF HEPATOCELLULAR CARCINOMA (HCC)

Abstract

The liver is the largest gland in the body, weights around 1500g and receives 1500ml of blood per minute in adults. Its form has nothing to do with its function; the large wedge• Shaped mass is merely a cast of the cavity into which it grows. 'It has two surfaces, diaphragmatic and visceral. The

diaphragmatic surface is boldly convex, while the visceral or

'inferior surface is rather flat and slopes down wards, forwards and to the right from the posterior surface. In the hardened dissecting room specimen, this surface bears faint impressions from adjacent viscera. The junction of the visceral and anterior surfaces makes the sharp inferior border of the organ. Most main vessels and ducts enter or leave at the porta hepatis, which is on the visceral surface, but the hepatic veins emerge from the 'posterior surface. (chummy S. Sinnatamby et al., 2000) Hepatocellular carcinoma is one of the commonest malignancies in the world and is responsible for an estimated one million deaths annually. (Sherlock & Dooley, 1993). Hepatocellular carcinoma comprises approximately 98% of human primary liver cancer, It soon became evident that racial and genetic factors were of no importance and incidence rates were found to be closely related to environmental factors, in particular, the prevalence of chronic hepatitis B and C virus infection and exposure to aflatoxins (Schafer & Sorrel, 1999).