Pathologic, molecular, and prognostic radiologic features of hepatocellular carcinoma

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a malignancy with variable biologic aggressiveness based on the tumor grade, presence or absence of vascular invasion, and pathologic and molecular clas-sification. Knowledge and understanding of the prognostic implications of different pathologic and molecular phenotypes of HCC are emerging, with therapeutics that promise to provide improved outcomes in what otherwise remains a lethal cancer. Imaging has a central role in diagnosis of HCC. However, to date, the imaging al-gorithms do not incorporate prognostic features or subclassification of HCC according to its biologic aggressiveness. Emerging data suggest that some imaging features and further radiologic, patho-logic, or radiologic-molecular phenotypes may allow prediction of the prognosis of patients with HCC. An invited commentary by Bashir is available online. Online supplemental material is available for this article.