China is the world’s top liver cancer country, accounting for more than half of the 626,000 new liver cancer patients diagnosed worldwide each year, or about 346,000 cases. Liver cancer is the most common malignant tumor of the liver and has the 3rd highest death rate. Each year, more than 600,000 new cases occur worldwide, and most patients die within one year of diagnosis. Although there are many treatment methods, the efficacy is very low. Professor Yu Youtao, Deputy Director of Interventional Department of Cancer Hospital of Harbin Medical University, was informed at the 2009 European Oncology Annual Meeting held in Germany that interventional combined with targeted therapy has become a new trend in liver cancer treatment. According to Yu Youtao, hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the most common type of liver cancer, and about 90% of adult primary liver cancer is hepatocellular carcinoma. Like other cancers, the earlier the patient is diagnosed, the better the prognosis. However, 40% of liver cancer patients are asymptomatic at the time of diagnosis, while 70-80% of liver cancer patients are diagnosed at an intermediate to advanced stage. Surgery (resection or liver transplantation) is currently the most effective treatment for liver cancer, but only 20% of liver cancer patients can be diagnosed at an early stage and are eligible for surgical resection. At the 2009 World Congress on Interventional Oncology, experts presented preliminary results of combined interventional and targeted therapies in patients with mid-stage liver cancer and revealed that researchers are currently conducting international clinical trials in this area, including several in China and other Asia-Pacific countries, to find more effective ways to treat liver cancer. Interventional Combination Targeted Therapy Brings New Hope to Patients with Advanced Liver Cancer In recent years, a variety of molecularly targeted drugs have been introduced internationally, bringing liver cancer treatment to a new stage. A 60-year-old patient suffered from giant hepatocellular carcinoma with a maximum tumor diameter of 10 cm and highly abnormal methemoglobin. The specialist treated the patient with molecular targeted drugs plus interventional surgery. After CT and hepatic arteriography, the patient’s liver was found to be free of viable tumors and the methemoglobin index returned to normal values. At present, the department has treated eight patients with advanced liver cancer with this method, prolonging their lives. “Molecular targeted drugs” plus “combined interventional surgery” is a combination of different treatment methods. The arterial chemoembolization + radiofrequency ablation is to control the tumor growth at the organ level. The arterial chemoembolization is to block the tumor blood supply through catheter embolization to induce ischemic necrosis of the tumor; the radiofrequency ablation is to use the high temperature of 90℃~110℃ to cauterize the tumor by percutaneous puncture under the guidance of CT. It causes thermal coagulation necrosis of the tumor. Currently, arterial embolization (interventional therapy) is the most common treatment method for patients with inoperable HCC, and the one-year survival rate after treatment can reach about 75%, but its long-term efficacy is not satisfactory due to metastasis and recurrence, and the 3-year survival rate is less than 30%. Therefore, we keep trying to combine interventional therapy with other therapies to treat patients with liver cancer. We know that tumor recurrence and metastasis after interventional treatment are closely related to tumor neoangiogenesis. If we can find a treatment method to inhibit tumor neoangiogenesis in combination with existing interventional therapy, the efficacy may be improved. Targeted therapeutic agents targeting tumor neovascularization were thus thought of. Some relatively good results have been obtained through small-scale preliminary attempts in clinical settings.