Actual Problems and Perspectives of the Application of Nuclear Medicine Techniques in the Diagnostic and Treatment of Hepatocellular Carcinoma: Analytical Review

Abstract

In the presented review of publications, together with a brief analysis of the incidence, risk factors for the occurrence and methods of diagnosis of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), current problems and prospects for the application of nuclear medicine methods in the diagnosis and treatment of this disease are indicated. Hepatocellular carcinoma is one of the most common malignant tumors of the liver and is characterized by a rapidly progressing course with an unfavorable life expectancy. A variety of clinical manifestations of the disease creates certain difficulties in the early diagnosis of HCC. Although HCC screening is most commonly used to determine the level of alpha-fetoprotein (AFP), ultrasound (US), bolus CT and MRI, experience in the use of radionuclide imaging diagnostics, including positron emission tomography, is important in clinical practice (PET), which, not being the main method of primary diagnosis of HCC, however, confirmed their relevance in the differential diagnosis between a benign tumor and metastasis with unclear diagnostic data, as well as in the process of monitoring treatment and in the diagnosis of distant metastases. Conceptual issues in determining the treatment strategy of patients with HCC, depending on the staging of the disease, the prospects for optimizing treatment strategies and traditional methods of treating HCC in detail and in depth are covered in various publications, including publications of domestic authors. Based on this, the authors of the article limited themselves to a brief analysis of the use of embolization and radiation therapy methods for treating HCC, the active development of which in the last decade, as well as promising early results of treatment, suggest that radiation therapy can be considered as the main treatment method for HCC traditional methods. Further study and development of radionuclide methods for the diagnosis and therapy of HCC, as well as the search and study of new radiopharmaceuticals for diagnosis and regional intraarterial radiotherapy is one of the promising directions in modern approaches to the diagnosis and treatment of HCC.