Establishment of a Screenig Test System for Early Diagnosis of Hepatocellular Carcinoma in High-Risk Patients and the Evaluation of Its Effectiveness

PURPOSE: To evaluate the effectiveness of clinic-based screening program for early detection of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and to assess the risk factors of HCC in Korea. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The data of 14,259 patients who had ultrasonography (US) due to chronic liver diseases were collected into a data base program from 1990 to 1998. RESULTS: A total of 4,339 patients were enrolled who had repeated US. 237 patients were diagnosed as HCC during follow-up (mean 33 months). The tumor size detected by screening within a 6-months interval was significantly smaller than that of a longer interval (2.7 cm vs 3.9 cm, P