Charged particle therapy for hepatocellular carcinoma: a commentary on a recently published meta-analysis

The incidence of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) continues to increase worldwide. HCC represents the second-leading cause of cancer-related deaths worldwide, accounting for 745,000 deaths per year (1). While there are effective curative treatments for HCC, including orthotopic liver transplantation, resection, or radiofrequency ablation for small tumors, the majority of patients are not candidates for these therapies due to tumor size, multifocality, vascular invasion, or poor baseline hepatobiliary function.