Editorial

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a highly malignant tumor with a poor prognosis and an annual incidence of between 250,000 and 1.2 million cases in high risk areas, such as Southeast Asia, coastal areas of mainland China, and sub-Saharan Africa. Worldwide, it is the seventh most common cancer with the highest incidence of adult malignancy in areas endemic for then hepatitis B virus. From a clinical point of view, the number of HCC cases in Switzerland is expected to possibly increase, due to the increasing number of patients with chronic hepatitis C. The only established treatment to cure the HCC involves hepatic resection or, in selected cases, transplantation. However, the success of these operations is frequently limited due to the often-advanced stage of the tumor at the time of diagnosis. Recent advances in techniques of liver surgery, better preoperative imaging methods and therefore better patient selection have helped to lower mortality and morbidity after hepatic resection. The most frequently used imaging methods today, CT-scan and dynamic CT-scan, may be replaced by the MRI in the near future because of it's more detailed and more sensitive image of liver tumours. A st