Jose´ Ignacio Bilbao • Maximilian F. Reiser
Editors

2014

Second Edition

Primary hepatic tumors, mostly hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), are the fifth most common cause of cancer-related deaths. Its frequency is progressively increasing worldwide and major investigations are being made in order to improve its dismal prognosis. Similarly, the presence of synchronic or metachronic liver metastases from different tumors (colorectal, neuroendocrine, pancreas, breast, etc.) decreases significantly the probability of survival related with a progressive deterioration in the liver performance. An early detection of the presence of liver tumors (early stages) allows to implement curative therapies, mainly hepatectomy or liver transplantation (for primary tumors), with which 70 % of patients can get a survival of 5 years.