PURPOSE
This CME/CE-Certified newsletter will provide interventional radiologists, hepatologists, gastroenterologists, transplant surgeons, medical oncologists, pathologists, and other healthcare professionals with the most current data regarding advances in the management of HCC.

TARGET AUDIENCE
The target audience for the The Multidisciplinary Paradigm of Hepatocellular Carcinoma: Highlights from the WCIO includes interventional radiologists, hepatologists, gastroenterologists, transplant surgeons, medical oncologists, pathologists, and allied healthcare professionals caring for patients with HCC.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES
Upon completion of this educational activity, participants should be better able to:

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Explain the rationale for the development and use of new therapeutic approaches in HCC
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Discuss the clinical implications of pivotal clinical trials involving novel therapies in HCC
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Analyze future treatment strategies and clinical trials needed to advance therapeutic progress in HCC

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Describe the advantages and disadvantages of multimodality/multidisciplinary management of patients with HCC
INTRODUCTION
Worldwide, hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is diagnosed in more than one-half million cases each year. Currently, it is the third leading cause of cancer death.1 In the United States, nearly 20,000 cases are diagnosed annually.2 Survival has increased over the past decade with advances in surgery and interventional radiology. A new era began in 2007, when the first systemic agent ever shown to improve survival in advanced HCC, sorafenib, was approved by the FDA. The Third Annual World Conference on Interventional Oncology (WCIO), held in Los Angeles from June 22 to June 25, 2008 devoted an entire day to the multidisciplinary management of the disease. The purpose of this newsletter is to bring greater awareness of this important entity to the healthcare community and to describe the important treatment developments that are making a difference in the lives of HCC patients by summarizing selected presentations from WCIO. This newsletter is divided into 4 sections:

  · Update on Epidemiology
  · Locoregional Ablative Therapy
  · Surgical Developments
  · Breakthroughs in Systemic Therapy

Optimal management of HCC relies on a multidisciplinary approach where all of the above are evaluated in treatment planning and often more than one modality is utilized. 
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