I. What is liver cancer? Liver cancer refers to malignant tumors occurring in the liver, including primary liver cancer and metastatic liver cancer, and people mostly refer to primary liver cancer when they talk about liver cancer in daily life. Primary liver cancer is one of the most common malignant tumors in clinical practice. According to the latest statistics, the global incidence rate has exceeded 626,000/year, ranking 5th among malignant tumors: death is close to 600,000/year, ranking 3rd among tumor-related deaths. Primary liver cancer is highly prevalent in China, and the number of incidence in China accounts for about 55% of the world; it ranks second after lung cancer in tumor-related deaths. Who are prone to get liver cancer? (1) Patients with chronic hepatitis: epidemiological statistics show that areas where hepatitis B is prevalent are also areas with high incidence of liver cancer, and people who have suffered from hepatitis B have more chances to develop liver cancer than those who have not, and this risk is as much as 10.7 times. Hepatitis viruses including hepatitis B and C are the main initiating factors among many factors in the development of human liver cancer. (2) Unclean diet: Long-term consumption of moldy food, food containing nitrite and lack of trace elements of selenium in food is also one of the important factors that promote liver cancer. Aflatoxin in moldy corn, peanuts, etc. is the main factor that induces cancer, and is the only substance that has a clear carcinogenic effect so far, and is one of the auxiliary causes of liver cancer. Nitrite exists in many foods in nature, and nitrite in daily meals is not harmful to human body, but when large amount of nitrite is not discharged in time, it can be transformed into nitrosamines in the body, which has clear carcinogenic effect. (3) Alcoholics: Those who have alcoholic habits have a high incidence of cirrhosis, especially on the basis of hepatitis, drinking a lot of alcohol will accelerate the formation and development of cirrhosis and promote the occurrence of liver cancer. III. How to detect liver cancer at an early stage? For people with high risk of liver cancer, i.e.: men ≥ 35 years old, those with hepatitis B and/or C virus infection, and alcoholics, screening is generally performed every 6 months, mainly including two items of serum alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) and liver ultrasound examination. For those with AFP > 400 μg/L and no liver occupancy on ultrasonography, attention should be paid to exclude pregnancy, active liver disease and germinal gland embryonic-derived tumors; if they can be excluded, liver CT and/or MRI should be performed. If AFP is elevated but not at the diagnostic level, in addition to the above-mentioned conditions that may cause AFP increase, the dynamic changes of AFP should be closely tracked, the interval of ultrasound examination should be shortened to 1 to 2 months, and CT and/or MRI examination should be performed when needed. What should I do if I have liver cancer? The common treatment methods for liver cancer can be divided into surgical and non-surgical treatments. Surgical treatment includes hepatectomy, ablation and liver transplantation, which are the preferred treatment methods for liver cancer and can completely remove or inactivate tumor tissues to achieve the purpose of radical cure. Non-surgical treatment for liver cancer includes arterial chemoembolization, local ablation therapy (radiofrequency ablation, microwave ablation, alcohol injection, high-intensity focused ultrasound), radiotherapy and molecular targeted therapy, which are mainly used for patients who cannot receive surgical treatment due to various reasons, or adjuvant treatment before and after surgery. It can achieve the purpose of controlling the disease and prolonging the survival. Arterial chemoembolization, which is often referred to as interventional therapy, is the first choice of non-surgical treatment and is often used for patients with mid- to late-stage liver cancer that cannot be surgically resected; for early-stage liver cancer patients with a single tumor ≤5cm in diameter or multiple nodules ≤3cm in maximum diameter (within 3), without vascular-biliary invasion and good liver function, radiofrequency or microwave ablation is the best alternative to surgery. For patients with advanced hepatocellular carcinoma, sorafenib, a new molecularly targeted drug introduced in the past two years, can slow down tumor progression and significantly prolong survival, bringing hope for improved prognosis for hepatocellular carcinoma patients. In spite of this, there is no fixed treatment plan applicable to all liver cancer cases so far. In the treatment of each liver cancer case, multiple tools are needed to complement each other and integrate organically, therefore, how to make the best choice and get the optimal individualized treatment plan is the main concern of patients and doctors. Therefore, the general principle of hepatocellular carcinoma treatment is early detection and early diagnosis, and the implementation of standardized and comprehensive treatment is emphasized.