AASLD guidelines for the treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma.

This document presents official recommendations of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases (AASLD) on the surveillance, diagnosis, and treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) occurring in the setting of adults with cirrhosis. Unlike previous AASLD practice guidelines, the current guideline was developed in compliance with the Institute of Medicine standards for trustworthy practice guidelines and uses the Grading of Recommendation Assessment, Development and Evaluation (GRADE) approach. Multiple systematic reviews of the literature were conducted to support the recommendations in this practice guideline. An enhanced understanding of the guideline can be obtained by reading the applicable portions of the systematic reviews. In addition, more detailed information may be found in the associated guidance document related to clinically important aspects of HCC that lacked sufficient evidence to warrant a systematic review. The guideline focuses on a broad spectrum of clinical practice, including surveillance of patients with cirrhosis for HCC, establishing the diagnosis of HCC, and various therapeutic options for the treatment of HCC. To address other issues on HCC such as epidemiology, staging, and additional aspects of diagnosis and treatment, the authors have created a new guidance document that will be published soon and is based upon the previous HCC AASLD guidelines by Bruix and Sherman.