Some patients with hepatitis B should be screened for HCC

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Screening some patients who have been cured of chronic hepatitis B (HBV) for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is worthwhile, new research from Korea suggests.

Doctors should consider screening cirrhotic patients and noncirrhotic males over age 50, even after hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) seroclearance, if they have HBV genotype C, the authors reported online November 28 in the Journal of Hepatology.


"Though serum HBsAg loss is generally considered as a cure of HBV, the risk of future HCC development is still high. The incidence of HCC in cirrhotic patients is also high," wrote co-author Dr. Han Chu Lee of the University of Ulsan in Seoul, in email to Reuters Health.

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