Hepatocellular Carcinoma (HCC)

◾ A comprehensive search for guidelines was undertaken to identify the most relevant guidelines to consider for adaptation. 

◾ inclusion/exclusion criteria followed in the search and retrieval of guidelines to be adapted: 

         - Selecting only evidence-based guidelines (guideline must include a report on systematic literature searches and explicit links between  individual recommendations and their supporting evidence).

         - Selecting only national and/or international guidelines. 

         - Specific range of dates for publication (using Guidelines published or updated 2015 and later). 

         - Selecting peer reviewed publications only.

         - Selecting guidelines written in English language.

         - Excluding guidelines written by a single author not on behalf of an organization in order to be valid and comprehensive, a guideline ideally requires multidisciplinary input. 

         - Excluding guidelines published without references as the panel needs to know whether a thorough literature review was conducted and whether current evidence was used in the preparation of the recommendations. 

◾ All retrieved Guidelines were screened and appraised using AGREE II instrument (www.agreetrust.org) by at least two members. the panel decided a cut-off point or rank the guidelines (any guideline scoring above 50% on the rigour dimension was retained)