Screening for Hepatocellular Carcinoma in Chronic Carriers of Hepatitis B and C in Markazi Province, Iran

Chronic hbv and hcv infections are known as important underlying causes of hepatocellularcarcinoma (hcc). their prevalence in iran are estimated to be 1.7-5% and 0.5-1%, respectively. we investigated theprevalence of hcc in chronic carriers of hbv and hcv via alpha-feto protein (afp) measurement and ultrasonographyas well as pathological assessments.methods: in this cross-sectional study, hbv and hcv positive cases were determined from documents in blood bankssince 1985. from 1064 aviable cases, 514 were randomly selected and followed up for two consecutive years. for allpatients, afp testing and sonography were done after reconfirmation of chronicity. cases with nodules or mass insonography and afp levels above 20 ng/ml were considered suspicious for hcc and after rechecking were referred forliver biopsy. finally, hcc was confirmed pathologically.results: the mean subjects' age was 35.19±13.16 years and hepatitis duration was 6.12±5.66 years. twenty-nine(5.7%) had elevated afp and 18 (3.5%) had nodules in sonogram. in 16 (3.13%) cases, hcc was detectedpathologically. risk of hcc was correlated with age >40 years, cirrhosis and hepatitis duration (p<0.001). there wasno correlation between the risk of hcc and the type of hepatitis, hbeag positivity, sex and alt levels.conclusions: early screening for hcc using afp and sonography can be useful for hcc detection in hcv and hbv chroniccarriers.