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Abstract Details
Benefits and Harms of Hepatocellular Carcinoma Surveillance in a Prospective Cohort of Patients With Cirrhosis
Amit G Singal1, Sruthi Patibandla2, Joseph Obi2, Hannah Fullington3, Neehar D Parikh4, Adam C Yopp5, Jorge A Marrero6
Author information
1Department of Internal Medicine, UT Southwestern Medical Center and Parkland Health Hospital System, Dallas, Texas; Department of Population Sciences, UT Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, Texas; Harold C. Simmons Cancer Center, UT Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, Texas. Electronic address: amit.singal@utsouthwestern.edu.
2Department of Internal Medicine, UT Southwestern Medical Center and Parkland Health Hospital System, Dallas, Texas.
3Department of Population Sciences, UT Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, Texas.
4Department of Internal Medicine, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan.
5Harold C. Simmons Cancer Center, UT Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, Texas; Department of Surgery, UT Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, Texas.
6Department of Internal Medicine, UT Southwestern Medical Center and Parkland Health Hospital System, Dallas, Texas; Harold C. Simmons Cancer Center, UT Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, Texas.
Abstract
Background & aims: The value of a cancer screening programs is defined by its balance of benefits and harms; however, there are few data evaluating both attributes for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) surveillance. We aimed to characterize benefits and harms of HCC surveillance in a large prospective cohort of patients with cirrhosis.
Methods: We conducted a secondary analysis of a clinical trial evaluating HCC surveillance among patients with cirrhosis at a safety-net health system enrolled between December 2014 and July 2015. We quantified surveillance-related benefits, defined as early HCC detection and curative treatment receipt, and physical harms, defined as diagnostic procedures for false positive or indeterminate results, over an 18-month period.
Results: Of 614 cirrhosis patients with ≥1 surveillance exam, abnormal results were observed in 118 (19.2%) patients. Twenty-six patients developed HCC during follow-up, of whom 16 (61.5%) were detected by surveillance. The proportion of HCC detected at BCLC stage 0/A (62.5% vs 50%, p = .69) and who underwent curative treatment (43.8% vs. 40.0%, p = 1.0) did not significantly differ between surveillance-detected patients and those diagnosed incidentally/symptomatically. Physical harms were observed in 54 (8.8%) patients who underwent surveillance - most of mild severity with only 1 diagnostic CT or MRI and none undergoing invasive testing such as biopsy. Incidental findings on follow-up imaging were found in 40 (6.5%) patients -23 of low clinical importance and 17 medium clinical importance.
Conclusions: In our cohort of patients with cirrhosis, HCC surveillance was associated with high early tumor detection and minimal physical harms.