 Hepatocellular carcinoma HCC, also known as primary liver cancer, is the most common form of liver cancer and is responsible for 80 percent of the primary malignant liver tumors in adults. It is the fifth most common cancer in the world. HCC disproportionately affects men, with four times as many men developing the disease as women. In 2002, approximately 626,000 cases of HCC were reported worldwide 15,000 in the United States and 53,600 in Europe, and more than 600,000 deaths about 13,000 Americans and 57,000 Europeans due to HCC were reported. The five-year relative survival rate is about seven percent. 