ASCO GI: Transplant Shows Best Survival for Local Liver Cancer Therapy

ORLANDO, Jan. 22 -- If all things were equal, a new liver would offer the best chance of long term survival for hepatocellular carcinoma.

So said Roderich Schwarz, M.D., of the Cancer Institute of New Jersey in New Brunswick, who compared survival for three local treatment strategies -- transplant, surgical resection, and ablation.

After five years, the survival rate for transplant patients was 67%, versus 38% for those who had surgical resection and 19% for ablation procedures (P