Can we consider stopping hepatocellular carcinoma surveillance in low-risk patients with hepatitis B?

Chronic hepatitis B (CHB) can cause liver cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). HCC surveillance with an abdominal ultrasound and serum alpha-fetoprotein every six months is recommended for patients with cirrhosis and in a subset of patients with non-cirrhotic CHB. However, it can be difficult to determine which patients are at high- vs. low-risk for HCC.

We review the key factors that contribute to HCC risk in CHB, the concept of risk-based HCC surveillance, and some of the existing clinical tools that can be used to estimate HCC risk in CHB.

Individualized HCC risk estimates can help clinicians stratify patients into high- and low-risk groups, enabling tailored surveillance strategies. However, the practical use of existing tools remains limited by the lack of wide validation, variability in access to laboratory testing, and the inability to accurately predict dynamic changes in HCC risk over time. For most patients with CHB, HCC risk remains sufficiently high enough to justify ongoing HCC surveillance. However, in select low-risk patients, surveillance may be delayed or stopped with regular reassessment of HCC risk and shared decision-making, given the limitations of existing tools and the likelihood of changes in HCC risk over time.