Read article Screening for liver cancer
This page is about screening for primary liver cancer (hepatocellular cancer). There are sections on
Screening means testing for early stages of a disease before there are any symptoms. Before doctors can screen for any type of cancer, they must have an accurate test to use. The test must be reliable in picking up cancers that are there. And it must not give false positive results in people who do not have cancer. At the moment, there is no screening test that is reliable enough to use for primary liver cancer across the whole population in the UK. Scientists are studying different blood tests that may be useful for screening for liver cancer in the future.
A good screening test must be simple, quick and not too expensive. Hepatocellular cancers produce a 'marker' that can be picked up on a blood test. A marker is a chemical that is made by particular types of cancer cells and found in the blood at higher than normal levels. The marker in hepatocellular cancer is called AFP (alpha fetoprotein). But not all hepatocellular cancers produce this marker, so a blood test alone would not be reliable enough to use for the whole population.
For any rare cancer, it is most cost effective to screen people who are thought to be at a higher risk. But first we need to know who is definitely at a higher risk. There are some groups that doctors already know are at higher risk of hepatocellular cancers. Your doctor may suggest you are tested every 6 months if you have established cirrhosis (liver damage).
Cirrhosis may be caused by
- Hepatitis B or C virus infection
- An inherited condition called haemochromatosis
- Drinking large amounts of alcohol over many years
If your specialist does offer you regular check ups for cancer, you will have 6 monthly blood tests for AFP. Because not all hepatocellular cancers make AFP, you will also have a liver ultrasound every 6 months to check for growths in your liver. If you have cirrhosis and are concerned that you are not being tested, speak to your liver specialist at your next check up.
These regular check ups in people with cirrhosis have been proved to pick up hepatocellular tumours earlier, when they are smaller and easier to treat. There has been some research to show that people who have hepatocellular cancers picked up earlier when they are smaller may live longer. But unfortunately there is no guarantee of cure.
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