ABSTRACT
Non-surgical treatments often result in incomplete tumor control and also reveal high recurrence rates when used for advanced HCC lesions. The natural history of untreated and non-surgically treated HCC in Asia is worse than that of similar cases in Western countries. A study from Hong Kong ( 16 ) showed that the 1-year and 2-year survival rates of patients with untreated HCC were 7.8% and 0.9%, respectively, whereas a comparable study from Spain ( 17 ) showed 54% and 40%, respectively ( 3 ).
