Dr. Sherman on Screening Obstacles in Liver Cancer

Morris Sherman, MD, PhD, professor of Medicine at University of Toronto, discusses the issues oncologists face with screening patients for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) in an interview during the 10th International Liver Cancer Association (ILCA) Annual Conference.

For years, ultrasound has been the standard screening tool for HCC, Sherman explains. However, ultrasounds themselves and identifying which patients should be screened have become two major issues in this area. Early data show that there are a multitude of risk scores that would help narrow the pool of patients who are at risk for cirrhosis, for example.

Additionally, 25% of patients with hepatitis B will go on to develop cancer; therefore, risk scores are under development that will avoid having to screen the remaining 75% of patients. However, in conducting these types of studies, researchers need to determine a threshold of risk—a factor that has not yet been determined, he adds.

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