For surveillance of patients with cirrhosis, a novel blood test found more hepatocellular carcinoma at an early stage than ultrasound, according to a modeling study presented at the 2022 ASCO Gastrointestinal Cancers Symposium.
Clinical guidelines recommend ultrasound with or without the serum biomarker alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) for the surveillance of individuals at risk for HCC, but only about one-fourth of patients adhere to this practice, according to investigator Jagpreet Chhatwal, PhD. Only one-third of patients who develop HCC are diagnosed before developing symptoms, added Dr. Chhatwal, the director of the Institute for Technology Assessment at Massachusetts General Hospital and an assistant professor at Harvard Medical School, both in Boston.