Clinical Review
Hepatocellular Carcinoma: To Biopsy or Not?
Case in Point
Fed Pract. 2011 August;28(8):34
Author and Disclosure Information
James M. Abraham, MD; and Christine Pocha, MD, PhD
Dr. Abraham is a gastroenterology fellow at the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis. Dr. Pocha is the co-director of the Hepatitis C Resource Center at the Minneapolis VA Health Care System and an assistant professor in the department of medicine at the University of Minnesota.
Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) accounts for 90% of all primary liver cancers and is the third leading cause of cancer-related mortality. Although HCC is often deadly, it is potentially curable if diagnosed at an early stage. Generally, needle biopsy of a suspicious liver lesion is not recommended because it raises the risk of needle track seeding.