Catching cancer early
Dr. Reau noted that a strength of the study is that it validated the biomarker in a diverse group of patients already diagnosed with liver cancer, including people with early-stage cancer, those who underwent transplantation, and those with recurrent cancer.
“Everyone searching for biomarkers is looking to make sure that the surveillance tool identifies the patient when it can pay off with early treatment,” Dr. Reau said.
“You don’t want to identify cancer when it’s bad, and you don’t have any options.
This is a little bit where AFP sometimes fails. Even if ultrasound isn’t that accurate, it still generally identifies people when they fit within curative guidelines.”
Dr. Rotroff also stressed the importance of detecting the cancers early, noting that the prognosis for patients with HCC before it has metastasized is greater than 4 years, but the prognosis drops to less than 1 year if it has metastasized.
Dr. Rotroff has an equity stake in Clarified Precision Medicine. He holds intellectual property related to the detection of HCC. Dr. Reau reports no relevant financial relationships.
A version of this article first appeared on Medscape.com.
