ReviewJournal of hepatology2023
Blood-based biomarkers for hepatocellular carcinoma screening: Approaching the end of the ultrasound era?
Review in Journal of hepatology, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 99 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
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.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
99 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 146 citations in OpenAlex.
- Salivary Extracellular Vesicles in Detection of Cancers Other than Head and Neck: A Systematic Review.Cells · 2025Pooled it
- Comparison of models to predict incident chronic liver disease: a systematic review and external validation in Chinese adults.BMC medicine · 2024Pooled it
- Pooled it
- Benefits and harms of hepatocellular carcinoma screening outreach in patients with cirrhosis: a multicenter randomized clinical trial.Journal of the National Cancer Institute · 2025Trial
- A Phase 3 Biomarker Validation of GALAD for the Detection of Hepatocellular Carcinoma in Cirrhosis.Gastroenterology · 2025Trial
- Trial
- Financial Burden of Hepatocellular Carcinoma Screening in Patients With Cirrhosis.Clinical gastroenterology and hepatology : the official clinical practice journal of the American Gastroenterological Association · 2024Trial
- Hepatocellular carcinoma surveillance may be associated with potential psychological harms in patients with cirrhosis.Hepatology (Baltimore, Md.) · 2024Trial
- The landscape of peripheral blood RNA modifications and its clinical implications for diagnosis of hepatocellular carcinoma.Cell communication and signaling : CCS · 2026Article
- Multi-Target HCC Blood Test Demonstrates Consistent Performance Across Subgroups of Patients with Chronic Liver Disease.Cancers · 2026Article
- Article
- Trial design and end points in hepatocellular carcinoma: an EASL-AASLD-ILCA consensus statement.Nature reviews. Clinical oncology · 2026Article
- Near-infrared/glutathione-activated CRISPR/Cas13a sensing platform for the detection of multiple microRNAs.RSC advances · 2026Article
- Integrated genomic analyses identify oncogenic pathway interplay in hepatocarcinogenesis defining specific molecular subtypes.Nature communications · 2026Article
- Pandemic-Related Disruptions and Hepatocellular Carcinoma Surveillance in Safety-Net Settings.JAMA network open · 2026Article
- Risk-stratified surveillance for hepatocellular carcinoma.Hepatology communications · 2026Review
- Diagnostic challenges in hepatic metastatic olfactory neuroblastoma: a case report and literature review.Discover oncology · 2026Article
- Very Early-Stage Detection Is Associated With Improved Survival in Patients With Unifocal Hepatocellular Carcinoma.Alimentary pharmacology & therapeutics · 2026Article
- Biomarkers for the Diagnosis of Cirrhosis and Cirrhosis-Related Complications.Gastroenterology clinics of North America · 2026Review
- Refining surveillance of hepatocellular carcinoma in chronic hepatitis B through biomarker-based risk stratification.Hepatology communications · 2026Review
39 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
3 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a leading cause of cancer-related death worldwide, in part because of inadequate early detection strategies. Current recommendations for screening consist of semi-annual abdominal ultrasound with or without serum alpha-fetoprotein in patients with cirrhosis and in demographic subgroups with chronic hepatitis B infection. However, this screening strategy has several deficiencies, including suboptimal early-stage sensitivity, false positives with subsequent harms, inter-operator variability in ultrasound performance, and poor adherence. A blood-based biomarker with sufficient performance characteristics for early-stage disease could overcome several of these barriers to improving early-stage detection. However, prior to use of a biomarker for screening in clinical practice, a multistep validation is required in order to understand test performance characteristics. These steps include case-control validation, followed by validation in prospective cohorts of at-risk patients. Until recently, we lacked adequate longitudinal validation cohorts for early HCC detection; however, several validation cohorts are maturing, including the Hepatocellular Carcinoma Early Detection Study and the Texas Hepatocellular Carcinoma Consortium, which will allow for rigorous validation of candidate biomarkers. While there are several promising biomarkers awaiting validation, in order to supplant abdominal ultrasound, a candidate biomarker must show adequate test performance and overcome practical hurdles to ensure adoption in clinical practice. The promise of blood-based biomarkers is significant, especially given the limitations of ultrasound-based screening; however, they require adequate validation and several logistical obstacles must be overcome prior to clinical implementation.
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What OpenQuestion holds
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.