Actualitati in diagnosticul carcinomului hepatocelular

This book looks at how doctors find a liver cancer. Its name is hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Marilena Stoian asks why doctors often find it late. Early disease may cause no signs that patients notice. Some doctors also hesitate to check those at high risk. This medical text is for readers concerned with finding disease and caring for patients.

The book makes the case for checks on high-risk patients. It gives estimates for people with cirrhosis in Western countries. Fewer than one-third get active checks for HCC. Thus, many have late-stage cancer when doctors find it. The cancer can also be hard to spot. Doctors may need several types of scans to find it.

The goal is to find tumours of 2 cm or less. At this size, doctors can still use the full range of treatments. A cure is still possible. The text gives a five-year survival rate above 70%. This rate is for patients treated after doctors find HCC early. The text contrasts this with survival of just 6–20 months. That figure follows a late diagnosis in people with underlying liver disease.