Surveillance for hepatocellular carcinoma at the community level: Easier said than done

Abstract

Surveillance for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) in high-risk patients with semiannual ultrasound examinations is advocated by all international guidelines. However, as long as the identification of the population to be screened and the surveillance programs are not well implemented, the real-life impact of HCC surveillance in reducing mortality for HCC cannot be known. We propose a new approach that promotes the identification of cirrhotic patients by primary care physicians (PCPs) and referral of patients to the hepatologist for surveillance. Surveillance should be incorporated, when feasible, in a hub and spoke model of comprehensive hepatology care. Training PCPs to identify cirrhotic patients and performing surveillance in a subspecialist setting are equally important to improve the effectiveness of real-life surveillance and to decrease HCC mortality over time.

Keywords: Cirrhosis; Hepatocellular carcinoma; Primary health care; Ultrasound surveillance.