ArticleTranslational gastroenterology and hepatology2021
The value of liquid biopsy in the diagnosis and staging of hepatocellular carcinoma: a systematic review.
Article in Translational gastroenterology and hepatology, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 4 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
4 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 6 citations in OpenAlex.
- The impact of circulating tumor DNA on the prognosis of liver cancer and its predictive value: a meta analysis.Frontiers in genetics · 2026Pooled it
- Nanotechnology-Enabled Diagnosis and Treatment of Hepatocellular Carcinoma: Theranostics, Combination Regimens, and Translation.International journal of nanomedicine · 2026Review
- Methylated SEPT9 combined with AFP and PIVKA-II is effective for the detection of HCC in high-risk population.BMC gastroenterology · 2023Article
- Liquid biopsies to occult brain metastasis.Molecular cancer · 2022Review
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
6 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundBlood-borne tumour markers in the form of circulating tumour cells (CTCs) are of intense research interest in the diagnostic and prognostic work-up of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).
methodsThis is a meta-analysis. Using a PICO strategy, adults with HCC was the population, with the individual CTCs as the intervention and comparators. The primary outcome was the sensitivity and specificity of HCC detection with tumour specific single gene methylation alteration. Secondary outcomes were the comparison using specific assay methods and the effect of early
resultsThe review included 36 studies, with a total of 5,853 patients. Here, we found that AFP has the highest overall diagnostic performance. The average Youden index amongst all CTC was 0.46 with a mode and median of 0.5 with highest of 0.87 and lowest of 0.01.
conclusionsThe available literature provides weak evidence that there is potential in the use of CTC, however the lack of a standardised procedure in the study of CTC contribute to the lack of consensus of use. Future research should include large scaled, standardized studies for the diagnostic accuracy of CTCs.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.