title: Surveillance for hepatocellular carcinoma.
abstract: Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) appears mainly in patients with underlying liver disease and it is recognized as one of the most important causes of death in this population. Early detection by surveillance has been suggested as an effective tool for reducing cancer-specific mortality and the most accepted strategy is semiannual abdominal ultrasound in those patients at risk of HCC development. The benefit of HCC surveillance is proven by a randomized-controlled study, several prospective or retrospective analyses, and multiple modeling studies and according to the current scientific evidence, surveillance of HCC should be recommended and widely implemented. Major efforts should be done for improving the diagnostic accuracy of the screening tools and for better identifying those patients at risk of HCC development in whom a surveillance program would be cost-effective.
authors.affiliation: Barcelona Clinic Liver Cancer (BCLC) Group, Liver Unit, Hospital Clinic Barcelona, August Pi i Sunyer Biomedical Research Institute (IDIBAPS), University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain; Network for Biomedical Research in Hepatic and Digestive Diseases (CIBERehd), Spain.
authors.forename: Álvaro
authors.initials: Á
authors.lastname: Díaz-González
authors.affiliation: Barcelona Clinic Liver Cancer (BCLC) Group, Liver Unit, Hospital Clinic Barcelona, August Pi i Sunyer Biomedical Research Institute (IDIBAPS), University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain; Network for Biomedical Research in Hepatic and Digestive Diseases (CIBERehd), Spain. Electronic address: aforner@clinic.ub.es.
authors.forename: Alejandro
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Forner
mesh_terms: D006528:Carcinoma, Hepatocellular / Q000175:diagnosis*; D006801:Humans; D008113:Liver Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis*; D011159:Population Surveillance
keywords: Cirrhosis; Hepatocellular carcinoma; Liver cancer; Liver disease; Overall survival; Screening; Surveillance