Dr. Do on the Assessment of Tumor Response in Liver Cancer

Richard Kinh Gian Do, MD, PhD, radiologist, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, discusses the assessment of tumor response in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).

While tumor shrinkage is the standard by which oncologists assess how well a therapy is working for a patient, investigators are currently looking at alternative ways of establishing the benefit of an agent from a biological perspective. Assessing therapeutic responses can be a bit different when it comes to treating patients with HCC, explains Do.

Given the fact that HCC is vascular, oncologists can measure how a tumor enhances and how it devascularizes after treatment. As a result, it may be possible to detect an earlier difference in therapeutic changes or benefits. The real controversy, says Do, lies in determining the best way to measure both tumor size and tumor enhancement in patients with HCC.

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