— Christine M. Kukka, Project Manager, HBV Advocate
A study by doctors from the University of North Carolina Liver
Center finds that less than half of primary care doctors who treat
patients with cirrhosis (severe liver scarring) actually screen
patients for liver damage and cancer.
Current medical guidelines require doctors to
screen cirrhotic patients for liver damage and cancer by using
ultrasound and alpha fetoprotein tests. However, according to the study
published in the August issue of the journal of Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology, many physicians in North Carolina fail to monitor their at-risk patients for liver damage and cancer.
Researchers mailed a survey asking about their
liver cancer monitoring practices to 1,000 North Carolina providers. Of
the 391 who responded, 89% indicated they saw patients with cirrhosis,
but only 45% of them screened for liver cancer.
Of the doctors who did not screen patients:
- 84% indicated they referred patients to gastroenterologists (liver specialists) to perform the screening.
- 24% were unaware of the recommendations that mandated screening.
- 8% were uncertain there was any benefit to screening for cancer.
- And 8% were concerned about costs.
While a little more than half of the doctors knew
about liver transplantation and tumor removal as treatment options,
very few knew about newer surgeries to remove liver tumors.
Most doctors see patients with cirrhosis, but
only a minority screen for liver cancer, researchers wrote. "Primary
care provider knowledge of effective liver cancer therapy options is
suboptimal. Efforts to enlist (doctors) in liver cancer surveillance may
be best served by increasing their knowledge of effective therapies,"
they concluded.
Source: www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25117773
http://www.hbvadvocate.org/news/HBJ11.9.htm Labels: adherence to guidelines, lack of screening, physician awareness
