Changing role of histopathology in the diagnosis and management of hepatocellular carcinoma

Table 1 Role of tumour tissue analysis in hepatocellular carcinoma

Diagnostic	Prognostic/theragnostic
Distinguishing HCC from metastasis	Prognostic histomorpholic parameters-tumour grade, vessel invasion, pTNM stage
Distinguishing benign/preneoplastic lesions from HCC	Identification of Histological variants of prognostic importance
Diagnosis confirmation of small HCC	Tissue biomarkers-for prognostication
Diagnosis of liver nodules in non-cirrhotic background	Tissue biomarkers-for assessing presence of therapeutic targets and drug development
Diagnosis of atypical variants of HCC, which have atypical Imaging findings	Histologic surrogates of clinically relevant molecular signatures-for predicting prognosis
Combined HCC-CC	Histologic surrogates of clinically relevant molecular signatures-as predictors of potential responders for targeted therapies
Diagnosis confirmation of HCC in phase III trials of new drugs

HCC: Hepatocellular carcinoma.