Daily Checkup: The link between hepatitis B and liver cancer

About 1 in 30 people worldwide has chronic hepatitis B, the main underlying cause of liver cancer. We talk to Dr. Steven Brower at Mount Sinai Beth Israel, a liver cancer specialist, in honor of Liver Cancer Awareness Month.

THE SPECIALIST : Dr. Steven Brower
The director of cancer surgery at Mount Sinai Beth Israel, Dr. Steven Brower specializes in liver cancer and gastrointestinal cancers. November is Liver Cancer Awareness Month.

WHO’S AT RISK
The second most common cancer worldwide is liver cancer, with 700,000 new cases diagnosed each year — about 33,000 of which will occur in the U.S.

“Liver cancer is an abnormal growth that arises in a liver, usually one that has been damaged by other causes,” says Brower. “Hepatitis is the single most common underlying cause of liver cancer — up to 80% of all liver cancer worldwide is due to hepatitis B alone.”


Millions in the metro New York area are at risk, especially Asian-Americans and Pacific Islanders, who come from two regions where the disease is endemic.

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