Key clinical point: Hampered ultrasound visualization in patients with cirrhosis receiving hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) surveillance is associated with worse test performance, negatively affecting both sensitivity and specificity of surveillance.
Major finding: Patients with cirrhosis and HCC having severely impaired ultrasound visualization before HCC diagnosis showed increased odds of false-negative results (adjusted odds ratio [aOR] 7.94; 95% CI 1.23-51.16), whereas those with only cirrhosis having moderately impaired visualization showed increased odds of false-positive results (aOR 1.60; 95% CI 1.13-2.27).
Study details: This was a retrospective cohort study involving 2,238 patients with cirrhosis, with (n = 186) or without (n = 2,052) HCC, who underwent at least one abdominal ultrasound examination.
Disclosures: The study was supported by the United States National Institute of Health. A Singal and D Fetzer declared serving as consultants or advisory board members of or having research agreements with various organizations.
Source: Chong N et al. Association between ultrasound quality and test performance for HCC surveillance in patients with cirrhosis: a retrospective cohort study. Aliment Pharmacol Ther. 2022;55(6):683-690 (Feb 15). Doi: 10.1111/apt.16779