Biography
In his research, Yao is interested in liver cancer treatment, particularly as related to liver transplants. He has contributed to important publications in this area. His other research interests include hepatitis B infection and outcomes for patients undergoing liver transplantation.
Education
Institution | Degree | Dept or School | End Date |
---|---|---|---|
Stanford Hospital and Clinics | Fellowship | Gastroenterology | 1993 |
Stanford Hospital and Clinics | Residency | Internal Medicine | 1990 |
Albert Einstein College of Medicine | 1987 |
Board Certifications
1995 American Board of Internal Medicine - ABIM 147033 (Re-certification 2008)
1997 American Board of Gastroenterology - ABIM 147033
Clinical Expertise
Cirrhosis
Esophageal Cancer
Liver Transplantation
Primary Sclerosing Cholangitis
Hepatitis B
Hepatitis C
Hepatocellular Carcinoma (Liver Cancer)
Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease (NAFLD)
Nonalcoholic Steatohepatitis (NASH)
Live Donor Liver Transplantation
Gastric (Stomach) Cancer
Program Affiliations
UCSF Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center
UCSF Liver Transplant Program
UCSF Liver Center
In the News
Research Interests
Liver Injury and Repair
Liver transplantation outcomes including expanded criteria liver transplants
Loco-regional therapy for hepatocellular carcinoma
Hepatitis in Asians
Publications
- Enhancing the prognostic accuracy of the RETREAT score with AFP-L3 and DCP tumor markers.| | PubMed
- Real-World Management of Hepatocellular Carcinoma: Selected Case Presentations Highlighting the Dilemmas of Surveillance.| | PubMed
- Alcohol and Hepatocellular Carcinoma.| | PubMed
- AFP-L3 and DCP strongly predict early hepatocellular carcinoma recurrence after liver transplantation.| | PubMed
- Downstaging hepatocellular carcinoma before liver transplantation: A multicenter analysis of the "all-comers" protocol in the Multicenter Evaluation of Reduction in Tumor Size before Liver Transplantation (MERITS-LT) consortium.| | PubMed
- Refining the approach to down-staging of HCC prior to liver transplantation: Patient selection, loco-regional treatments, and systemic therapies.| | PubMed
- AFP-L3 and DCP are superior to AFP in predicting waitlist dropout in HCC patients: Results of a prospective study.| | PubMed
- Alpha-fetoprotein slope over 7.5 ng/ml over 3 months before liver transplantation for hepatocellular carcinoma predicts recurrence even after controlling for alpha-fetoprotein at liver transplantation.| | PubMed
- National Experience on Waitlist Outcomes for Down-Staging of Hepatocellular Carcinoma: High Dropout Rate in All-Comers.| | PubMed
- National experience with living donor liver transplantation for hepatocellular carcinoma.| | PubMed
- Lower Alpha-Fetoprotein Threshold of 500 ng/mL for Liver Transplantation May Improve Posttransplant Outcomes in Patients With Hepatocellular Carcinoma.| | PubMed
- The Impact of Median Model for End-Stage Liver Disease at Transplant Minus 3 National Policy on Waitlist Outcomes in Patients With and Without Hepatocellular Carcinoma.| | PubMed
- Review of Liver Transplantation in Patients With Hepatocellular Carcinoma.| | PubMed
- Sex-based Disparities in Hepatocellular Carcinoma Recurrence After Liver Transplantation.| | PubMed
- Liver Transplantation After Downstaging of Hepatocellular Carcinoma With Portal Vein Tumor Thrombus Using Yttrium-90 Radioembolization: Pipe Dream or Reality?| | PubMed
- Downstaging Outcomes for Hepatocellular Carcinoma: Results From the Multicenter Evaluation of Reduction in Tumor Size before Liver Transplantation (MERITS-LT) Consortium.| | PubMed
- Neutrophil-to-Lymphocyte Ratio Predicts High-Risk Explant Features and Waitlist Survival But Is Not Independently Associated With Recurrence or Survival Following Liver Transplantation for Hepatocellular Carcinoma.| | PubMed
- Hepatic Toxicity After Selective Chemoembolization Is Associated With Decreased Survival Among Patients With Hepatocellular Carcinoma.| | PubMed
- Disseminated Legionella micdadei infection in a liver transplant patient presenting as pulmonary nodules and a laryngeal lesion.| | PubMed
- DCP and AFP-L3 Are Complementary to AFP in Predicting High-Risk Explant Features: Results of a Prospective Study.| | PubMed
- The Key Role of Staging Definitions for Assessment of Downstaging for Hepatocellular Carcinoma.| | PubMed
- Reply.| | PubMed
- A novel waitlist dropout score for hepatocellular carcinoma - identifying a threshold that predicts worse post-transplant survival.| | PubMed
- CON: Portal Vein Thrombosis Does Not Impact Liver Transplantation Outcomes.| | PubMed
- COVID-19 and Abdominal Transplant: A Stepwise Approach to Practice During Pandemic Conditions.| | PubMed
- Hepatocellular Carcinoma Demonstrates Heterogeneous Growth Patterns in a Multicenter Cohort of Patients With Cirrhosis.| | PubMed
- Surveillance for HCC After Liver Transplantation: Increased Monitoring May Yield Aggressive Treatment Options and Improved Postrecurrence Survival.| | PubMed
- Effect of Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease and Metabolic Risk Factors on Waitlist Outcomes in Patients With Hepatocellular Carcinoma.| | PubMed
- Donation After Circulatory Death Is Associated With Similar Posttransplant Survival in All but the Highest-Risk Hepatocellular Carcinoma Patients.| | PubMed
- Bacchus Listed for a Liver Transplant: Comment.| | PubMed
- Liver Transplantation for Hepatocellular Carcinoma. Working Group Report from the ILTS Transplant Oncology Consensus Conference.| | PubMed
- Unfair Advantages for Hepatocellular Carcinoma Patients Listed for Liver Transplant in Short-Wait Regions Following 2015 Hepatocellular Carcinoma Policy Change.| | PubMed
- Liver transplantation for hepatocellular carcinoma: Management after the transplant.| | PubMed
- National Experience on Down-Staging of Hepatocellular Carcinoma Before Liver Transplant: Influence of Tumor Burden, Alpha-Fetoprotein, and Wait Time.| | PubMed
- REPLY.| | PubMed
- Comparison of Liver Transplant Wait-List Outcomes Among Patients With Hepatocellular Carcinoma With Public vs Private Medical Insurance.| | PubMed
- Prospective Phase II trial of drug-eluting bead chemoembolization for liver transplant candidates with hepatocellular carcinoma and marginal hepatic reserve.| | PubMed
- Noninvasive estimation of pulmonary vascular resistance improves portopulmonary hypertension screening in liver transplant candidates.| | PubMed
- Are There Upper Limits in Tumor Burden for Down-Staging of Hepatocellular Carcinoma to Liver Transplant? Analysis of the All-Comers Protocol.| | PubMed
- Predictors of low risk for dropout from the liver transplant waiting list for hepatocellular carcinoma in long wait time regions: Implications for organ allocation.| | PubMed
- What Are the Optimal Liver Transplantation Criteria for Hepatocellular Carcinoma?| | PubMed
- Alpha-Fetoprotein Decrease from > 1,000 to < 500 ng/mL in Patients with Hepatocellular Carcinoma Leads to Improved Posttransplant Outcomes.| | PubMed
- Distinguishing Tumor From Bland Portal Vein Thrombus in Liver Transplant Candidates With Hepatocellular Carcinoma: the A-VENA Criteria.| | PubMed
- The mRECIST Classification Provides Insight into Tumor Biology for Patients With Hepatocellular Carcinoma Awaiting Liver Transplantation.| | PubMed
- Screening for Hepatocellular Carcinoma to Improve Cancer-Related Mortality: Looking Behind When We Should Be Looking Ahead.| | PubMed
- Multicenter validation of a score to predict prognosis after the development of HCC recurrence following liver transplantation.| | PubMed
- Increasing Liver Transplantation Wait-List Dropout for Hepatocellular Carcinoma With Widening Geographical Disparities: Implications for Organ Allocation.| | PubMed
- Predictors of Ultrasound Failure to Detect Hepatocellular Carcinoma.| | PubMed
- Direct-acting antivirals do not increase the risk of hepatocellular carcinoma recurrence after local-regional therapy or liver transplant waitlist dropout.| | PubMed
- Alpha-Fetoprotein Slope >7.5 ng/mL per Month Predicts Microvascular Invasion and Tumor Recurrence After Liver Transplantation for Hepatocellular Carcinoma.| | PubMed
- History of Marijuana Use Does Not Affect Outcomes on the Liver Transplant Waitlist.| | PubMed
- Living donor liver transplantation for hepatocellular carcinoma: To expand (beyond Milan) or downstage (to Milan)?| | PubMed
- Validation of the prognostic power of the RETREAT score for hepatocellular carcinoma recurrence using the UNOS database.| | PubMed
- Con: Treating hepatitis C virus With direct-acting antivirals: Fear not the perceived threat of hepatocellular carcinoma.| | PubMed
- Excellent Outcomes of Liver Transplantation Following Down-Staging of Hepatocellular Carcinoma to Within Milan Criteria: A Multicenter Study.| | PubMed
- Misdiagnosis of hepatocellular carcinoma in patients receiving no local-regional therapy prior to liver transplant: An analysis of the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network explant pathology form.| | PubMed
- Wait Time of Less Than 6 and Greater Than 18 Months Predicts Hepatocellular Carcinoma Recurrence After Liver Transplantation: Proposing a Wait Time "Sweet Spot".| | PubMed
- Liver transplantation recipients with nonalcoholic steatohepatitis have lower risk hepatocellular carcinoma.| | PubMed
- Validation of a Risk Estimation of Tumor Recurrence After Transplant (RETREAT) Score for Hepatocellular Carcinoma Recurrence After Liver Transplant.| | PubMed
- Transarterial Radioembolization for Hepatocellular Carcinoma: Who, When… and Y(90)?| | PubMed
- Reply.| | PubMed
- Increased hepatocellular carcinoma recurrence in women compared to men with high alpha fetoprotein at liver transplant.| | PubMed
- Lack of benefits of mammalian target of rapamycin inhibitor in patients transplanted for hepatocellular carcinoma: Is this the end of the story?| | PubMed
- Hepatocellular cancer as indication for liver transplantation: pushing beyond Milan.| | PubMed
- Nucleos(t)ide analogs reduce the risk of hepatitis B-associated hepatocellular carcinoma: A can't miss proposition?| | PubMed
- Intention to treat outcome of T1 hepatocellular carcinoma with the "wait and not ablate" approach until meeting T2 criteria for liver transplant listing.| | PubMed
- Minimal Transplant Survival Benefit for Hepatocellular Carcinoma: Is it Real or an Overestimation of Waitlist Life Expectancy?| | PubMed
- Reassessing the boundaries of liver transplantation for hepatocellular carcinoma: Where do we stand with tumor down-staging?| | PubMed
- Liver transplantation for hepatocellular carcinoma: analysis of factors predicting outcome in 1074 patients in OPTN Region 5.| | PubMed
- Implications of discordant findings between hepatic angiography and cross-sectional imaging in transplant candidates with hepatocellular carcinoma.| | PubMed
- Circulating tumor cells in hepatocellular carcinoma: a pilot study of detection, enumeration, and next-generation sequencing in cases and controls.| | PubMed
- Downstaging of hepatocellular cancer before liver transplant: long-term outcome compared to tumors within Milan criteria.| | PubMed
- Potential role of the donor in hepatocellular carcinoma recurrence after liver transplantation.| | PubMed
- Evaluating the validity of model for end-stage liver disease exception points for hepatocellular carcinoma patients with multiple nodules <2 cm.| | PubMed
- Hepatic artery and biliary complications in liver transplant recipients undergoing pretransplant transarterial chemoembolization.| | PubMed
- Response to letter to the editors.| | PubMed
- Combined effects of recipient age and model for end-stage liver disease score on liver transplantation outcomes.| | PubMed
- Restricting liver transplant recipients to younger donors does not increase the wait-list time or the dropout rate: the hepatitis C experience.| | PubMed
- Alpha-fetoprotein level > 1000 ng/mL as an exclusion criterion for liver transplantation in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma meeting the Milan criteria.| | PubMed
- Time to transplantation as a predictor of hepatocellular carcinoma recurrence after liver transplantation.| | PubMed
- Outcomes after liver transplantation for patients with hepatocellular carcinoma and a low risk of dropout from the transplant waiting list.| | PubMed
- Conundrum of treatment for early-stage hepatocellular carcinoma: radiofrequency ablation instead of liver transplantation as the first-line treatment?| | PubMed
- Identification of liver transplant candidates with hepatocellular carcinoma and a very low dropout risk: implications for the current organ allocation policy.| | PubMed
- Validating posttransplant hepatocellular carcinoma recurrence data in the United Network for Organ Sharing database.| | PubMed
- Moving past "One size (and number) fits all" in the selection of candidates with hepatocellular carcinoma for liver transplantation.| | PubMed
- Reply: To PMID 23333661.| | PubMed
- Factors associated with outcomes and response to therapy in patients with infiltrative hepatocellular carcinoma.| | PubMed
- Morbidity and mortality following transarterial liver chemoembolization in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma and synthetic hepatic dysfunction.| | PubMed
- Risk factors for liver transplant waitlist dropout in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma.| | PubMed
- Imaging predictors of the response to transarterial chemoembolization in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma: a radiological-pathological correlation.| | PubMed
- Multidisciplinary management of hepatocellular carcinoma.| | PubMed
- Does a patient qualify for liver transplantation after the down-staging of hepatocellular carcinoma?| | PubMed
- Do preoperative inflammatory markers impact on outcome after liver transplantation for hepatocellular carcinoma?| | PubMed
- Mixed hepatocellular cholangiocarcinoma and intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma in patients undergoing transplantation for hepatocellular carcinoma.| | PubMed
- Cost-effectiveness of screening for recurrent hepatocellular carcinoma after liver transplantation.| | PubMed
- Hepatocellular carcinoma: Ablate and wait versus rapid transplantation.| | PubMed
- Excellent outcome following down-staging of hepatocellular carcinoma prior to liver transplantation: an intention-to-treat analysis.| | PubMed
- Liver transplantation for hepatocellular carcinoma: beyond the Milan criteria.| | PubMed
- Current approach to down-staging of hepatocellular carcinoma prior to liver transplantation.| | PubMed
- Liver transplantation for hepatocellular carcinoma.| | PubMed
- Liver transplantation at UCSF--a 20-year experience.| | PubMed
- Expanded criteria for liver transplantation in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma.| | PubMed
- Liver transplantation for hepatocellular carcinoma: the hepatitis C quandary.| | PubMed
- Should surveillance for hepatocellular carcinoma be increased in patients with cirrhosis and small liver nodules?| | PubMed
- De novo malignancies following liver transplantation: a case-control study with long-term follow-up.| | PubMed
- Expanded criteria for hepatocellular carcinoma: down-staging with a view to liver transplantation--yes.| | PubMed
- Selection criteria for liver transplantation in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma: beyond tumor size and number?| | PubMed
- A prospective study on downstaging of hepatocellular carcinoma prior to liver transplantation.| | PubMed
- High incidence of recurrence and hematologic events following liver transplantation for Budd-Chiari syndrome.| | PubMed
- The impact of pre-operative loco-regional therapy on outcome after liver transplantation for hepatocellular carcinoma.| | PubMed
- Cost-effectiveness of hepatocellular carcinoma surveillance in patients with hepatitis C virus-related cirrhosis.| | PubMed
- Applying expanded criteria to liver transplantation for hepatocellular carcinoma: too much too soon, or is now the time?| | PubMed
- Liver transplantation for hepatocellular carcinoma: lessons from the first year under the Model of End-Stage Liver Disease (MELD) organ allocation policy.| | PubMed
- Prediction of survival after liver retransplantation for late graft failure based on preoperative prognostic scores.| | PubMed
- De novo non-alcoholic fatty liver disease following orthotopic liver transplantation.| | PubMed
- A follow-up analysis of the pattern and predictors of dropout from the waiting list for liver transplantation in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma: implications for the current organ allocation policy.| | PubMed
- Dramatic reduction of the alpha-fetoprotein level after lamivudine treatment of patients with chronic hepatitis B virus infection and cirrhosis.| | PubMed
- Liver transplantation for hepatocellular carcinoma: analysis of survival according to the intention-to-treat principle and dropout from the waiting list.| | PubMed
- Liver transplantation for hepatocellular carcinoma: comparison of the proposed UCSF criteria with the Milan criteria and the Pittsburgh modified TNM criteria.| | PubMed