Liver and pancreatic malignancy: Oncological evaluation and principles of treatment

Most malignant liver tumours will require a combination of excisional surgery and chemotherapy to achieve remission. Initially, combination chemotherapy brought down the recurrence rate, and proved an effective treatment strategy for metastases in most cases of hepatoblastoma (HB) (Box 20.1). The task ahead in this tumour is to try to reduce the toxicity, perhaps by use of single-agent regimens, while retaining effectiveness.