interview

Early-stage liver cancer can be cured with radical surgery. However, tumor recurrence remains the primary challenge affecting patients' long-term survival. Currently, the five-year recurrence rate for early-stage liver cancer post-surgery is about 60%. Addressing this challenge and improving long-term survival for these patients is a pressing clinical issue. From July 6th to 8th, 2023, the 13th Asia-Pacific Primary Liver Cancer Expert Meeting (APPLE 2023) was held grandly in Seoul, South Korea. A special session on "Unmet Clinical Needs and Research Directions" was set up, inviting several internationally renowned liver cancer scholars for an in-depth discussion. During this, Dr. Linda Wong from the University of Hawaii shared her insights on the promising vision of adjuvant therapies, such as systemic therapy and TACE, for the cure of early-stage liver cancer.

Liver cancer is the third leading cause of cancer death in China. In recent years, the application of targeted and immunotherapies has improved the survival of liver cancer patients. However, due to the high molecular heterogeneity of liver cancer, there is still a lack of biological markers for predicting clinical efficacy, and there is a significant difference in treatment responses among liver cancer patients. From July 6th to 8th, 2023, the 13th Asia-Pacific Primary Liver Cancer Experts Conference (APPLE 2023) was grandly held in Seoul, South Korea. At the conference, Dr. Irene Oi-Lin Ng from the University of Hong Kong, China, shared recent advancements in the study of liver cancer's molecular heterogeneity and its biological markers, offering new insights into the development of novel clinical treatment strategies and precise drug efficacy predictions for personalized precision diagnosis and treatment. Hepatology Digest had an in-depth interview with Dr. Ng at the APPLE conference.

Liver cancer has become the 6th most common and the 3rd leading cause of cancer deaths worldwide. For liver cancer patients, surgery is the preferred method to completely eliminate tumors and achieve long-term survival. However, the majority of liver cancer patients still face late diagnoses and low survival rates. In recent years, the systemic treatment of liver cancer has progressed rapidly, with new immunotherapies and targeted drugs emerging, promoting continuous innovation in liver cancer treatment concepts and schemes. From July 6-8, 2023, the 13th Asia-Pacific Primary Liver Cancer Expert Meeting (APPLE 2023) was grandly held in Seoul, South Korea. At the conference, Dr. Hanchong Toh from the National Cancer Centre Singapore shared the latest developments in immune adjuvant therapy for liver cancer.

The diagnosis of liver cancer involves three aspects, including imaging, blood test results, and biopsy pathology results. Typically, the diagnosis of a tumor is confirmed only under a microscope after obtaining pathological tissue. However, liver cancer has its unique characteristics, and its diagnosis can be based on cirrhosis and confirmed through imaging tests such as computer tomography scans and magnetic resonance imaging. At the recently concluded 13th Asia-Pacific Primary Liver Cancer Expert Conference (APPLE 2023), Dr. Kathryn J. Fowler from the University of California, San Diego, shared insights from the perspective of a radiologist on the effectiveness and reliability of liver cancer imaging in clinical diagnosis, as well as the positive role of imaging in the classification and prognosis prediction of liver cancer patients. Hepatology Digest had the privilege of conducting an in-depth interview with Dr. Fowler at the conference, and we have compiled the content for our readers.

In recent years, there has been rapid progress in the systemic treatment of liver cancer, with new immunotherapies and targeted therapies continually emerging. This has also driven ongoing innovation in the concepts and approaches for treating HCC. From July 6th to 8th, 2023, the 13th Asia-Pacific Primary Liver Cancer Experts Conference (APPLE 2023) was held in Seoul, South Korea. During the conference, one of the founders of APPLE, Dr. Masatoshi Kudo from Kindai University in Japan, shared the latest research developments in systemic treatment for intermediate HCC and its potential applications. Hepatology Digest had the privilege of conducting an in-depth interview with Dr. Kudo at the APPLE conference. Here, we present the contents of that interview for our readers.