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Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the most common complication of cirrhosis and is associated with substantial morbidity and mortality. If HCC is detected early, curative and palliative therapies (such as liver transplantation, hepatic resection, radiofrequency ablation, ethanol injection, and chemoembolization) can lengthen survival. These authors describe the effect of HCC surveillance on survival.
In this retrospective study, researchers identified 1641 patients from a single center in Japan who received initial diagnoses of HCC from 1968 through 2004 (151 in 1968–1980, 409 in 1981–1990, 754 in 1991–2000, and 324 in 2001–2004). Patients were stratified by surveillance protocol: 565 underwent HCC surveillance (ultrasound, computed tomograp…