Diagnosis, Staging, and Management of Hepatocellular Carcinoma: 2018 Practice Guidance by the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases

Abstract

Purpose and ScopeThis guidance provides a data-supported approach to the diagnosis, staging, and treatment of patients diagnosed with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).A guidance document is different from a guideline.Guidelines are developed by a multidisciplinary panel of experts who rate the quality (level) of the evidence and the strength of each recommendation using the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development, and Evaluation system (GRADE).A guidance document is developed by a panel of experts in the topic, and guidance statements, not recommendations, are put forward to help clinicians understand and implement the most recent evidence.Guidelines for HCC were recently developed according to the GRADE approach.1 The Guidelines for HCC were developed using clinically relevant questions, which were then answered by systematic reviews of the literature, and followed by data-supported recommendations.(2) The Guidelines focused on surveillance, diagnosis, and treatment of HCC.However, some areas of HCC lacked sufficient data to perform systematic reviews, and here the authors will update the 2010 American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases (AASLD) Guidelines, (3) hereto referred as the guidance for HCC.