Liver and biliary tract carcinoma surveillance counterpoint: Europe

Little or no evidence exists on which criteria for follow-up for postsurgical treatment of hepatobiliary cancer may be based. Therefore, although these cancers are common, current guidelines seldom address this issue and only with generic recommendations. In addition to what was reported in the main chapter, the only guidelines generated in Europe and written in English on the treatment of hepatic and biliary tumors are those published by the British Society of Gastroenterology [1, 2]. However, these report no recommendation about posttreatment surveillance. On the other hand, the Associazione Italiana Studio Fegato (AISF—Italian Association for the Study of the Liver) has published guidelines written in Italian on the management of patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) which include some recommendations about surveillance [3–5]. These recommendations, currently followed by most Italian institutions, including ours, are summarized here.