Epidemiology of Technical Procedures for the Treatment of Hepatocellular Carcinoma: Country-wide Trends From 2009 to 2019

In France, as in most countries, the incidence of primary liver cancer has increased significantly since the 1980s. In the United States, a study estimating cancer incidence and mortality rates in the coming years predicts that primary liver cancer will become the 3rd leading cause of cancer death from 2030 onwards, behind lung and pancreatic cancer, but ahead of colorectal cancer. This increase in incidence could be explained on the one hand by an increase in the incidence of chronic liver diseases, particularly those related to alcohol and metabolic steatopathies in the West, and on the other hand by improved management of the consequences of cirrhotic disease, which in turn increases the time needed for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) to form and develop. The management of a patient with hepatocellular carcinoma is complex because of the underlying cirrhotic disease, which hinders the development of many therapies. Thus, the patient's prognosis depends as much on the tumour extension as on the severity of the underlying chronic liver disease, and the choice of appropriate treatment is based on optimizing the balance between maximum antitumor efficacy and limited liver toxicity.

It is in this context that minimally invasive technical acts, whether local or local-regional, have developed significantly in recent years. Percutaneous tumor destruction techniques have become highly diversified with the development of microwave ablatherm, multipolar radiofrequency, or irreversible electroporation. For intra-arterial treatments, hepatic arterial chemoembolization remains the reference treatment for BCLC B stages. Alongside it, Yttrium 90 radio-embolization is booming, although its precise place remains to be defined in the therapeutic arsenal. Surgical techniques have also progressed, with the development of laparoscopic resections and improved liver transplant management. Finally, external radiotherapy is a recourse solution that can make it possible to propose a therapeutic solution in selected patients.

This multidisciplinary management of the HCC is in constant evolution and improvement, which justifies regularly carrying out an inventory of the frequency of these various technical acts at the national level. The objective of our study is to analyze the evolution, over the last 10 years and at a national level, of the various technical procedures available in the HCC therapeutic arsenal based on data from the french national PMSI database.