Timeline of liver cancer

This is a timeline of liver cancer, describing especially major discoveries and advances in treatment of the disease.

Big picture

Year/period	Key developments
19th century	First recorded attempts of hepatic surgery.[1]
1960s	Hepatitis B is found to be a leading cause of liver cancer.[2] First liver transplant performed.
1980s	Tumor ablation develops.[2]
1990s	Liver transplantation becomes a standard treatment for certain patients with liver cancer, extending life expectancy for years and sometimes leading to cure.[2]
2000s	The introduction of sorafenib in considered to mark a new era of liver cancer research and treatments.[2] Obesity is linked to liver cancer deaths.
Recent years	As of 2010, liver cancer resulted in 754,000 deaths, up from 460,000 in 1990, making it the third leading cause of cancer death after lung and stomach.[3] Current treatment options for liver cancer are surgery, tumor ablation, tumor embolization, radiation therapy, targeted therapy and chemotherapy.[4]

Full timeline

Year/period	Type of event	Event	Location
1870	Development	First hepatic surgery is performed.[1]
1911	Development	The first anatomical resection for liver cancer is performed during a right lobectomy.[1]
1950	Organization	The American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases is founded as an organization of scientists and healthcare professionals committed to preventing and curing liver disease.[5]	United States
1956	Discovery	Fibrolamellar hepatocellular carcinoma (a rare form of hepatocellular carcinoma that typically affects young adults) is first described.[6]
1957	Development	The first comprehensive description of the liver, including the identification of its eight functional sections, is published.[2]
1963	Treatment	First liver transplant is performed in a patient with liver cancer.[7]
1964	Development	Researchers introduce the first effective strategy to assess how well the liver is working, an important factor in treatment decisions for liver cancer.[2]
1965	Treatment	Radioactive isotope Yttrium-90 (Y90) is first used for the treatment of inoperable liver cancer, for which previously there are no treatment options.[8]
1966	Organization	The European Association for the Study of Liver Diseases is founded.[9]	Marburg, Germany
1968	Organization	The Latin American Association for the Study of the Liver (ALEH) is founded.[5]	Sao Paulo, Brazil
1973	Development	Child-Pugh score system develops as a method used to assess the prognosis of chronic liver disease. The system, which remains in use today, considers the results of three specific blood tests, the presence of fluid in the abdomen and cognitive function.[10]
1975	Treatment	Research shows that advanced liver cancers respond to single-drug treatment with doxorubicin (Adriamycin).[11]
1981	Treatment	United States FDA approves the first vaccine against hepatitis B, one of the primary causes of liver cancer.[12]	United States
1983	Treatment	A new technique called tumor ablation helps patients who cannot undergo surgery by shrinking and, in some cases, destroying smaller liver tumors.[13]
1983	Treatment	Ultrasound-guided percutaneous ethanol injection in hepatic tumors is introduced.[14]
1989	Treatment	Interstitial laser photocoagulation (ILP) for metastatic liver lesions is described. Since then, lasers are used to deliver local, controlled heat deposition in multiple organs.[13]
1991	Discovery	Hepatitis C virus is first associated with hepatocellular carcinoma.[15]
1993	Treatment	Percutaneous radio frequency ablation is introduced as a technique to treat liver tumors. The procedure is performed under ultrasound guidance. A small needle is inserted into the posterior aspect of the tumor, and ethanol is slowly injected into the lesion.[14]
1994	Development	Researchers describe the infectious agent Helicobacter hepaticus and its role in causing active hepatitis and associated liver tumors in mice.
1996	Treatment	Research shows that liver transplantation is an effective treatment option for certain patients with cirrhosis and tumors that are confined to the liver.[16]
1998	Discovery	Research links non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) to increased liver cancer risk.[17]
2002	Discovery	Researchers discover that liver cancers develop as a result of disruptions along multiple pathways, resulting in many genetically varied forms of liver cancer.[18]
2003	Discovery	Study links obesity to higher risk of death from liver cancer, along with several other cancer types.[19]	United States
2006	Organization	The International Liver Cancer Association (ILCA) is established. It is the only international organization devoted exclusively to liver cancer research for experts from all related disciplines.[20]
2007	Treatment	Study shows that drug sorafenib (Nexavar), extends the lives of patients with advanced, inoperable hepatocellular carcinoma, the most common form of liver cancer.[21]
2008	Development	New criteria provides detailed guidance to help doctors select patients most likely to benefit from liver transplants, based on tumor size, spread and response to previous therapy.[22]
2012	Organization	The South Asian Association for the Study of the Liver is founded.[5]	Dhaka, Bangladesh
2016	Discovery	Study shows that liver cancer risk rises up to 10 times with low selenium levels in the blood.[23]	United States
2016	Treatment	Bayer’s Stivarga is found to improve liver cancer survival rates after trial.[24]	Germany

See also

• Timeline of lung cancer
• Timeline of brain cancer
• Timeline of colorectal cancer
• Timeline of pancreatic cancer
• Timeline of cervical cancer
• Timeline of kidney cancer

References

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2. "Progress & Timeline". Retrieved 30 September 2016.
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8. Ariel, IM (1965). "Treatment of Inoperable Primary Pancreatic and Liver Cancer by the Intra-Arterial Administration of Radioactive Isotopes (Y90 Radiating Microspheres". Ann. Surg. 162 (2): 267–78. doi:10.1097/00000658-196508000-00018. PMC 1476829. PMID 14327011.
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11. Olweny, Charles L. M.; Toya, Tom; Katongole-Mbidde, Edward; Mugerwa, Josua; Kyalwazi, Sebastian K.; Cohen, Herman (1975). "Treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma with adriamycin. Preliminary communication". Cancer. 36 (4): 1250–1257. doi:10.1002/1097-0142(197510)36:4<1250::AID-CNCR2820360410>3.0.CO;2-X.
12. "Hepatitis B VIS". Retrieved 1 October 2016.
13. van Sonnenberg, Eric; McMullen, William; Solbiati, Luigi (2008-09-08). Tumor Ablation: Principles and Practice. ISBN 9780387286747.
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15. El-Serag, Hashem B.; Mason, Andrew C. (2000). "Risk Factors for the Rising Rates of Primary Liver Cancer in the United States". Archives of Internal Medicine. 160 (21): 3227–30. doi:10.1001/archinte.160.21.3227. PMID 11088082.
16. Mazzaferro, Vincenzo; Regalia, Enrico; Doci, Roberto; Andreola, Salvatore; Pulvirenti, Andrea; Bozzetti, Federico; Montalto, Fabrizio; Ammatuna, Mario; Morabito, Alberto; Gennari, Leandro (1996). "Liver Transplantation for the Treatment of Small Hepatocellular Carcinomas in Patients with Cirrhosis". New England Journal of Medicine. 334 (11): 693–700. doi:10.1056/NEJM199603143341104. PMID 8594428.
17. Hollingsworth, RC; Minton, EJ; Fraser-Moodie, C; Metivier, E; Rizzi, PM; Irving, WL; Jenkins, D; Ryder, SD (1998). "Hepatitis G infection: role in cryptogenic chronic liver disease and primary liver cell cancer in the UK. Trent Hepatitis C virus Study Group". J Viral Hepat. 5 (3): 165–9. doi:10.1046/j.1365-2893.1998.00102.x. PMID 9658369.
18. Grisham, Joe W.; Thorgeirsson, Snorri S. (August 2002). "Molecular pathogenesis of human hepatocellular carcinoma". Nature Genetics. 31 (4): 339–346. doi:10.1038/ng0802-339. PMID 12149612.
19. Calle, EE; Rodriguez, C; Walker-Thurmond, K; Thun, MJ (April 2003). "Overweight, Obesity, and Mortality from Cancer in a Prospectively Studied Cohort of U.S. Adults". N. Engl. J. Med. 348 (17): 1625–38. doi:10.1056/NEJMoa021423. PMID 12711737.
20. "ILCA". Retrieved 1 October 2016.
21. Llovet, JM; Ricci, S; Mazzaferro, V; et al. (July 2008). "Sorafenib in Advanced Hepatocellular Carcinoma". New England Journal of Medicine. 359 (4): 378–390. CiteSeerX 10.1.1.531.1130. doi:10.1056/NEJMoa0708857. PMID 18650514.
22. Yao, FY; Kerlan, RK Jr; Hirose, R; Davern; Bass, NM; Feng, S; Peters, M; Terrault, N; Freise, CE; Ascher, NL; Roberts, JP (2008). "Excellent outcome following down-staging of hepatocellular carcinoma prior to liver transplantation: an intention-to-treat analysis". Hepatology. 48 (3): 819–27. doi:10.1002/hep.22412. PMC 4142499. PMID 18688876.
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