Screening for liver cancer during transplant waiting list: a multicenter study from South America

PIÑERO F; SEBASTIAN MARCIANO; ANDERS M; OROZCO F; ZEREGA A; CABRERA CR; BAÑA MT; GIL O; ANDRIANI O; DE SANTIBAÑES E; MCCORMACK L; ADRIAN GADANO; SILVA M.

EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF GASTROENTEROLOGY & HEPATOLOGY

LIPPINCOTT WILLIAMS & WILKINS

Lugar: Philadelphia; Año: 2015

0954-691X

BACKGROUND AND AIMS:Surveillance during liver transplantation (LT) waiting list has scarcely been reported in South America. We aimed to describe hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) surveillance during the LT waiting list in the daily practice.PATIENTS AND METHODS:A multicenter retrospective analysis in cirrhotic patients was carried out. All patients underwent an ultrasound (US) every 6 months and the last pre-LT US was compared with explanted liver findings. A false-negative case was considered when incidentally found HCC (iHCC) was detected, whereas a false-positive case was considered when HCC diagnosed before LT (cHCC) was not confirmed in the explanted liver. US performance was assessed after excluding cHCC patients referred to transplant evaluation.RESULTS:Of 643 patients, 129 had HCC, of whom 92 had cHCC (71.3%) and 37 had iHCC (28.7%). Five patients (5.4%) had nonconfirmed cHCC (n=3 regenerative nodules, n=1 biliary hamartoma, and n=1 cholangiocarcinoma). Patients with iHCC had a higher MELD score (23±10 vs. 15±10; P