Utility of serological tumor biomarkers for surveillance of hepatocellular carcinoma in patients undergoing dialysis.

Background Patients undergoing dialysis are at risk of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and preferably should undergo HCC surveillance. We investigated the utility of HCC tumor markers for HCC surveillance in patients undergoing dialysis. Methods Three serum markers specific for HCC, namely alpha-fetoprotein (AFP), Lens culinaris agglutinin A-reactive fraction of AFP (AFP-L3) and des-gamma-carboxy prothrombin (DCP), were measured in dialysis patients with and without a diagnosis of HCC (n = 60 and 507, respectively). The predictive value of each marker and that of a diagnostic score (GALAD score) based on patient age and gender as well as the same three markers were evaluated by receiver-operating characteristic (ROC) analysis, as well as sensitivity and specificity. Results AFP, DCP and the GALAD scores showed high predictive values for HCC, with areas under the ROC curve of >0.85. This effectiveness remained when focusing on small HCC (≤3 cm or ≤2 cm) or early-stage HCC (Stage I), as well as after propensity score matching of background characteristics of HCC and non-HCC patients. In particular, DCP and GALAD score had excellent predictive abilities for HCC. Conclusions Measuring serum tumor markers for HCC can serve as a complement to imaging studies in the surveillance of HCC in patients undergoing dialysis, and reduce the likelihood of advanced HCC at detection and diagnosis.