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©The Author(s) 2019. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Gastroenterol. Oct 28, 2019; 25(40): 6041-6052
Published online Oct 28, 2019. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v25.i40.6041
Published online Oct 28, 2019. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v25.i40.6041
Role of liver biopsy in hepatocellular carcinoma
Luca Di Tommaso, Abubaker Elamin, Pathology Unit, Humanitas Clinical and Research Center IRCCS, Rozzano 20089, Italy
Luca Di Tommaso, Marco Spadaccini, Matteo Donadon, Nicola Personeni, Alessio Aghemo, Ana Lleo, Department of Biomedical Sciences, Humanitas University, Pieve Emanuele 20090, Italy
Matteo Donadon, Division of Hepatobiliary and General Surgery, Department of General Surgery, Humanitas Clinical and Research Center IRCCS, Rozzano 20089, Italy
Nicola Personeni, Division of Medical Oncology and Hematology, Humanitas Cancer Center, Humanitas Clinical and Research Center IRCCS, Rozzano 20089, Italy
Alessio Aghemo, Ana Lleo, Division of Internal Medicine and Hepatology, Department of Gastroenterology, Humanitas Clinical and Research Center IRCCS, Rozzano 20089, Italy
Author contributions: All authors equally contributed to this paper with the conception and design of the study, literature review and analysis, drafting and critical revision and editing, and final approval of the final version.
Conflict-of-interest statement: All the Authors have no conflict of interest related to the manuscript.No financial support of interest for the present study.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Ana Lleo, MD, PhD, Associate Professor, Department of Biomedical Sciences, Humanitas University, Division of Internal Medicine and Hepatology, Department of Gastroenterology, Humanitas Clinical and Research Center IRCCS, Via A. Manzoni 56, Rozzano 20089, Italy. ana.lleo@humanitas.it
Telephone: +39-2-82247231 Fax: +39-2-82242298
Received: July 29, 2019
Peer-review started: July 29, 2019
First decision: August 27, 2019
Revised: October 4, 2019
Accepted: October 17, 2019
Article in press: October 17, 2019
Published online: October 28, 2019
Peer-review started: July 29, 2019
First decision: August 27, 2019
Revised: October 4, 2019
Accepted: October 17, 2019
Article in press: October 17, 2019
Published online: October 28, 2019
Core Tip
Core tip: The role of liver biopsy in the diagnosis of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) has been challenged over time by the ability of imaging techniques to characterize liver lesions in patients with known cirrhosis; indeed, in the diagnostic algorithm for this tumor histology is currently relegated to controversial cases. However, increasing knowledge of the phenotypical and molecular characteristics of HCC is leading to a new scenario in which biopsy may play a decisive role. As the information content of the tissue sample increases, the advantages of liver biopsy may modify the current risk/benefit balance.