Hepatocellular carcinoma surveillance with ultrasound-cost effectiveness, high-risk populations, uptake.

Hepatocellular carcinoma surveillance with ultrasound-cost effectiveness, high-risk populations, uptake. Br J Radiol. 2018 Feb 15;:20170436 Authors: Ronot M, Pommier R, Dioguardi Burgio M, Purcell Y, Nahon P, Vilgrain V Abstract Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the most frequent primary liver cancer and the second cause of cancer-related deaths worldwide. In most cases, it is diagnosed in patients with identified risk factors, mainly cirrhosis from all causes. These patients are candidates for a surveillance program that, depending on guidelines, involves regular liver ultrasound alone or combined with serum markers. These programs have been shown to improve the oncological outcome by detecting earlier stage tumors and providing patients with potentially curative treatment and improved survival. Yet, the level of evidence supporting these guidelines remain limited. This review article presents an overview of the evidence supporting surveillance programs for HCC, in particular the efficacy, cost-effectiveness, and consequences of this approach for patient survival. Western and Eastern guideline recommendations are described and discussed. PMID: 29446324 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]
Source: The British Journal of Radiology - Category: Radiology Authors: Tags: Br J Radiol Source Type: research