fig1

Figure 1. A goal-directed loop for minimally invasive HCC treatment across the disease course. Figure 1 summarizes the shared reasoning loop. Treatment intent and clinical context guide a modality-specific intervention. Response, toxicity, liver function, and remaining options then determine whether care proceeds to surveillance, corrective local treatment, transplantation, or systemic therapy. The arrows show how each outcome informs the next assessment. Created in BioRender. CAO, R. (2026) https://BioRender.com/36kf48q. HCC: Hepatocellular carcinoma; RFA: radiofrequency ablation; MWA: microwave ablation; TACE: transarterial chemoembolization; TARE: transarterial radioembolization; SBRT: stereotactic body radiation therapy.