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A major goal of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) surveillance in patients with cirrhosis is to detect tumors at an early stage. The most favorable outcomes have been shown for single tumors detected at ≤30 mm. Current guidelines recommend that surveillance be performed with ultrasound, with or without serum α-fetoprotein assay; however, the optimal time interval is not established. A recent study suggests that a 12-month interval is associated with lower survival than a 6-month interval (J Hepatol 2010; 53:291). Six months is currently recommended as the benchmark interval, based on empirical knowledge.
Now, investigators have compared the effectiveness of 3-month versus 6-month intervals of ultrasound surveillance in detecting small, curable …