Construction and Validation of a Novel Risk Index for Hepatocellular Carcinoma in Central European In-Patients

Introduction: Screening for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is recommended for cirrhotic patients. Unfortunately, current screening tests have less than optimal sensitivity and specificity. Lack of resources precludes the use of more sensitive procedures such as magnetic resonance imaging in all patients. In this study, we develop and validate a screening index to discriminate patients with HCC from patients with cirrhosis but without HCC. Patients and methods: 409 consecutive in-patients with either liver cirrhosis or HCC were included in this study. Following univariate analysis to define differences between th…