11 Apr New Marker to Predict Recurrence of Hepatocellular Carcinoma

MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Wei-ping Zhou, MD, PhD
Department of Hepatic Surgery
Eastern Hepatobiliary Surgery Hospital
Shanghai, China
MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study? 

Answer:  The main finding is that Quantitative HBsAg can be used as a new prognostic factor of Hepatocellular Carcinoma recurrence after partial hepatectomy in patients with a low HBV-DNA level.

MedicalResearch.com: Were any of the findings unexpected?

Answer: We are some surprised to our results. It is difficulty to find a good marker which actually reflects the status of HBV infection and predicts postoperative prognosis in HCC patients with a low HBV-DNA load. Previous study showed that HBsAg assay using a quantitative measure could indicate activity of HBV infection and high HBsAg level (HBsAg >1000 IU/ml) can be used as an independent risk factor of HCC development. Our results suggested that HBsAg level may be used to complement HBV-DNA level in predicting Hepatocellular Carcinoma recurrence, especially in patients with low HBV-DNA levels.

MedicalResearch.com: What should clinicians and patients take away from your report?

Answer: Our results suggested that low HBV-DNA did not represent inactivity and low HBsAg level maybe represent true inactivity. We should pay more attention to the Hepatocellular Carcinoma patients with low HBV-DNA level but high HBsAg level. There were still activity of in some of this patients. This patients should be under more close supervision.

Citation:
Prediction of Hepatocellular Carcinoma Recurrence in Patients With Low Hepatitis B Virus DNA Levels and High Preoperative Hepatitis B Surface Antigen Levels
Huang G, Lau W, Zhou W, et al. Prediction of Hepatocellular Carcinoma Recurrence in Patients With Low Hepatitis B Virus DNA Levels and High Preoperative Hepatitis B Surface Antigen Levels. JAMA Surg. 2014;():. doi:10.1001/jamasurg.2013.4648.

Last Updated on April 11, 2014 by Marie Benz MD FAAD