Alcoholic Cirrhosis and Risk for Hepatocellular Carcinoma

Because patients with alcoholic cirrhosis are at elevated risk for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), surveillance for HCC is generally recommended. To assess the value of such surveillance, researchers used national databases to identify all Danish citizens who received diagnoses of alcoholic cirrhosis from 1993 to 2005 and followed them through 2009. Rates of HCC and mortality were tracked. Patients with a history of viral hepatitis were excluded.

Of 8482 patients with alcoholic cirrhosis, 169 developed HCC and 5734 died. The 5-year cumulative HCC risk was 1.0%, and only 1.8% of all deaths were HCC-related.