New guidelines for diagnosis and treatment of liver cancer released

The National Health Commission recently released the Guidelines for Diagnosis and Treatment of Primary Liver Cancer (2022 Edition), which aims to increase the five-year survival rate of liver cancer patients by 15 percent.

Fan Jia, chairman of the expert committee that wrote the guidelines and an academician with the Chinese Academy of Sciences, said during a media interview on Monday that the guidelines emphasized the importance of early screening, diagnosis and treatment, and called on medical workers to pay attention to the mental condition of patients and their families.

"The guidelines represent the highest level of liver cancer diagnosis and treatment in China, and incorporate the latest and highest-level evidence-based medicine proofs and explanations," said Fan, who is also president of Zhongshan Hospital Affiliated with Fudan University in Shanghai.

Some latest innovative therapies have been included in the guidelines. The expert committee cited the example of the combined therapy of Tecentriq and Avastin by Roche, which has been approved for the treatment of unresectable hepatocellular carcinoma in more than 80 countries and regions, including China.

"Clinical data shows this innovative combined therapy can significantly reduce death risk and disease progression, and patients reported better life quality than those receiving previous standard care," said Qin Shukui, vice-chairman of the expert committee writing the guidelines and vice-president of the Chinese Society of Clinical Oncology.

The expert committee said they hope the guidelines would allow more patients receive standardized diagnosis and treatment, prolong patient survival, and improve their quality of life.

Primary liver cancer is the fourth major malignant tumor in China. Liver cancer cases and deaths arising from this disease in China account for more than half of the world's total each year, according to experts.