Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the most common primary liver malignancy. It is principally associated with liver cirrhosis and chronic liver disease. The major risk factors for the development of HCC include viral infections (HBV, HCV), alcoholic liver disease (ALD,) and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). The optimal treatment choice is dictated by multiple variables such as tumor burden, liver function, and patient’s health status. Surgical resection, transplantation, ablation, transarterial chemoembolization (TACE), and systemic therapy are potentially useful treatment strategies. TACE is considered the first-line treatment for patients with intermediate stage HCC. The purpose of this review was to assess the indications, the optimal treatment schedule, the technical factors associated with TACE, and the overall application of TACE as a personalized treatment for HCC.

Artificial intelligence (AI) has a wide and increasing range of applications across various sectors. In medicine, AI has already made an impact in numerous fields, rapidly transforming healthcare delivery through its growing applications in diagnosis, treatment and overall patient care. Equally, AI is swiftly and essentially transforming the landscape of kidney transplantation (KT), offering innovative solutions for longstanding problems that have eluded resolution through traditional approaches outside its spectrum. The purpose of this review is to explore the present and future applications of artificial intelligence in KT, with a focus on pre-transplant evaluation, surgical assistance, outcomes and post-transplant care. We discuss its great potential and the inevitable limitations that accompany these technologies. We conclude that by fostering collaboration between AI technologies and medical practitioners, we can pave the way for a future where advanced, personalised care becomes the standard in KT and beyond.

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the most common primary liver cancer, posing a significant global health challenge with an increasing incidence. In recent years, multiple staging systems and scores have been proposed, emphasising the necessity for the development of precise prognostic tools. The well-documented etiological relationship between chronic inflammation and carcinogenesis has prompted researchers to explore novel prognostic markers associated with the inflammatory status of HCC patients. This review summarises the current data about inflammation-based scores in the context of HCC. We discuss established scores like the Glasgow Prognostic Score (GPS), modified GPS (mGPS) and the neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) and others not as extensively studied, examining their utility in predicting survival outcomes and treatment response in HCC patients. Furthermore, we explore emerging scores, including the prognostic nutritional index (PNI) and other lymphocyte-based scores, assessing their potential in refining risk stratification and guiding therapeutic decisions in the era of precision medicine. As research progresses and these scores undergo further refinement and integration into the evolving landscape of HCC management, they carry significant potential for improving patient outcomes.

Spleen-preserving distal pancreatectomy offers an alternative surgical approach to the traditional distal pancreatectomy combined with splenectomy for ... Jove

Primary hepatic perivascular epithelioid cell tumors (PEComas) are rare mesenchymal neoplasms that involve both melanocytic and smooth muscle differentiation. Primary hepatic PEComas remain a challenging condition for radiologists, pathologists, and surgeons. Our review provides an updated, clinically oriented synthesis of the available evidence on primary hepatic PEComas, integrating recent developments in diagnosis, imaging, histopathology, molecular biology, prognostic stratification, surgical and systemic treatment, and long-term surveillance. Although the majority of hepatic PEComas generally exhibit a slowly progressive clinical course, a small subgroup of them is characterized by aggressive biological behavior with an increased risk of recurrence, distant metastases, and disease-related mortality. As PEComas can resemble other hypervascular liver lesions such as hepatocellular carcinoma and hemangioma, preoperative diagnosis based on imaging techniques can be very difficult. Furthermore, the final diagnosis is usually made by histopathological examination of the surgical specimen, which reports characteristic expression of both smooth muscle markers and melanocytic markers such as HMB-45 and Melan-A. Although mTOR inhibitors have demonstrated antitumor activity in advanced PEComas, evidence specifically supporting their use in primary hepatic PEComas remains limited. Prognostic stratification, treatment selection, and long-term follow-up of primary hepatic PEComa remain major challenges. Further multicenter studies are needed to improve risk assessment and develop evidence-based guidelines for the management of these rare primary liver neoplasms.