The New Updated Barcelona Clinic Liver Cancer Staging System: Roles of Trans-arterial Chemoembolization and Homework to Interventional Radiologists

Barcelona Clinic Liver Cancer staging system, which has been identified as the most commonly used staging system in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma, was initially published in 1999, and it was updated in 2022. This new Barcelona Clinic Liver Cancer staging shows more flexible strategies for the treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma based on each stage. Although the roles of trans-arterial chemoembolization were limited in intermediate stage (Barcelona Clinic Liver Cancer-B) patients in the previous version, its roles have been expanded in the new version of Barcelona Clinic Liver Cancer staging system. In this manuscript, we introduce how trans-arterial chemoembolization is incorporated in a new Barcelona Clinic Liver Cancer staging system and explore the new role of trans-arterial chemoembolization and what interventional radiologists seek for in a near future.