ASO Author Reflections: Proposal of a New Preoperative Prognostic Model for Solitary Hepatocellular Carcinoma

Excerpt

In the era of multidisciplinary surgical strategies for the treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), preoperative assessment of prognosis plays an increasingly pivotal role. However, existing prognostic systems were not developed using only objective variables available preoperatively, and therefore do not provide ideal prognostication for patients undergoing hepatectomy for HCC. The albumin–bilirubin (ALBI) grade was recently established as an objective parameter that estimates liver function.1 However, as a candidate marker that can be incorporated with the ALBI grade in a preoperative prognostic model, we focused on ¹⁸F-fluorodeoxyglucose-positron emission tomography (¹⁸F-FDG-PET) imaging, which visualizes tumor glucose metabolism.2,3 The purpose of our study was to develop a preoperative prognostic model using clinical parameters involving ¹⁸F-FDG-PET imaging findings and the ALBI grade for patients undergoing hepatectomy for solitary HCC.4 …