1. <scp>HCC</scp> Detection on Surveillance <scp>US</scp>
- Author
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Gloria Salazar, Ivonete Sandra de Souza e Silva, Priscila Henriques da Silva, Matheus Menezes Gomes, Giuseppe D'Ippolito, Adriano Miziara Gonzalez, Ulysses dos Santos Torres, and Carla Adriana Loureiro de Matos
- Subjects
medicine.medical_specialty ,Carcinoma, Hepatocellular ,Contrast Media ,Group B ,030218 nuclear medicine & medical imaging ,03 medical and health sciences ,Liver disease ,0302 clinical medicine ,medicine ,Humans ,Radiology, Nuclear Medicine and imaging ,Prospective Studies ,Prospective cohort study ,Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic ,Retrospective Studies ,Ultrasonography ,Protocol (science) ,030219 obstetrics & reproductive medicine ,Radiological and Ultrasound Technology ,business.industry ,Liver Neoplasms ,Hepatic nodules ,medicine.disease ,Magnetic Resonance Imaging ,Exact test ,Hepatocellular carcinoma ,Etiology ,Radiology ,business - Abstract
OBJECTIVE Focused US examinations of the liver in the routine hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) screening reduce the time spent on evaluating other structures deemed irrelevant to the clinical setting. It is still unknown, however, if such a strategy may additionally improve the frequency of nodules detection. We aimed to assess the impact of an HCC surveillance program in high-risk patients by means of targeted liver US following LI-RADS technical guidelines in comparison to a complete upper abdominal scan. METHODS In this IRB-approved, single-center, prospective study, patients at high-risk for HCC enrolled from 06/2016 to 09/2019 were randomly assigned to 1 of the 2 institutional protocols: Group A (targeted liver US) or Group B (complete upper abdominal scan). Twenty examiners with similar experience in abdominal US were randomly assigned to perform the examinations exclusively in 1 of the groups (10 in each group). Frequency of hepatic nodules between groups was compared by using Fisher's exact test. RESULTS Four hundred and sixty-five patients were enrolled, with no significant differences in both groups regarding sex, age, etiology of liver disease, MELD scores, and alpha-fetoprotein levels. A significantly higher frequency of nodules detection was found in Group A (230 patients; 23 nodules detected; 10% of the sample) in comparison to Group B (235 patients; 3 nodules; 1.3% of the sample) (p
- Published
- 2021
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