**Introduction**

With all these prospects in mind, we feel that this book project comes at the right time – when we are on the "high-tide" of HCC management, having authors that present recent breakthroughs, as well as re-establishing core-concepts and revising the basic concepts of this malignancy. We hope that everyone can find something of interest in this current vol‐ ume – the goal was to bring together as many views and perspectives as possible, in a coher‐

We would like to extend our immense gratitude towards our mentors, close and distant collab‐ orators that offered their invaluable contribution to our daily practice and academic efforts. Also, we would like to thank the authors, their collaborators, as well as the editorial team that made this project possible. A final – and most important – "thank you" goes to our families who

**Costin Teodor Streba, Cristin Constantin Vere and Ion Rogoveanu**

University of Medicine and Pharmacy of Craiova, Romania

give us the motivation to go forward and always offer their unconditional support.

ent, easy to follow, format.

VIII Preface

**Chapter 1**

**Provisional chapter**

**Introductory Chapter: Etiology and Pathogenesis of**

**Introductory Chapter: Etiology and Pathogenesis of** 

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the most frequent malignant tumor of the liver with hundreds of thousands of new cases diagnosed each year. Men are up to 3 times more likely to develop HCC compared to women. HCC encounters a higher incidence in countries with low socio-economic status and with improper access to healthcare. These countries also associate high alcohol intake among the population as well as increased incidence of hepatotropic viruses or human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). On the other hand, screening and surveil-

HCC has several well-known risk factors, which have been proven to strongly associate with the development of HCC. The most common etiological risk factors are hepatotropic viruses: hepatitis B virus (HBV), hepatitis C virus (HCV), and hepatitis D virus (HDV) and a suggestive evidence is revealed by similar distribution of HCC in areas where these viruses also encounter increasing incidence and it is considered that up to 90% of the diagnosed HCCs develop in context of hidden cirrhosis [1, 2]. Other risk factors that are highly involved in the hepatocellular carcinogenesis also include autoimmune hepatitis, nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), obesity and diabetes, tobacco and alcohol abuse, environmental toxins, and

lance of patients at risk have determined the upturn of survivability in HCC patients.

© 2016 The Author(s). Licensee InTech. This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

© 2018 The Author(s). Licensee IntechOpen. This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use,

distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

DOI: 10.5772/intechopen.78328

**Hepatocellular Carcinoma**

**Hepatocellular Carcinoma**

Ion Rogoveanu and Nicu Dan Florescu

http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.78328

**1. Introduction**

**2. Risk factors**

iron overload.

Costin Teodor Streba, Cristin Constantin Vere,

Costin Teodor Streba, Cristin Constantin Vere,

Additional information is available at the end of the chapter

Ion Rogoveanu and Nicu Dan FlorescuAdditional information is available at the end of the chapter

#### **Introductory Chapter: Etiology and Pathogenesis of Hepatocellular Carcinoma Introductory Chapter: Etiology and Pathogenesis of Hepatocellular Carcinoma**

DOI: 10.5772/intechopen.78328

Costin Teodor Streba, Cristin Constantin Vere, Ion Rogoveanu and Nicu Dan Florescu Costin Teodor Streba, Cristin Constantin Vere, Ion Rogoveanu and Nicu Dan FlorescuAdditional information is available at the end of the chapter

Additional information is available at the end of the chapter

http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.78328
