P-57 CHARACTERIZATION OF HEPATOCELLULAR CARCINOMA AND ITS RELATIONSHIP WITH ALPHA-FETOPROTEIN LEVELS

Introduction and Objectives

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the most common cancer of the liver, with differences in its incidence due to variance in risk factors and geographic locations. In Ecuador the incidence is 3.3/100000 with a mortality of 6.45/100000. Alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) is a biomarker used as a tumor marker for diagnosis, monitoring therapy and surveillance in HCC. This study aims to know the clinical and demographic characteristics of HCC and its relationship with AFP levels.

Materials and Methods

An observational descriptive analyze was used between 2018 and 2023, with a total of 65 patients with HCC, using percentages and frequency for qualitative data and central variance analyses for quantitative data.

Results

from 65 patients, 35 (54%) were men and 30 (46%) women. The mean age of diagnostic was 67.7 years old. 46(71%) people was found to have a low level of education and only 5(8%) had competent education. 53(82%) of patients had some clinical finding at the time of diagnostic while 12 (18%) did not and were diagnostic on surveillance. Cirrhosis was found to be the most common risk factor with 49(75%) presenting at the diagnostic compared with only 16(25%) that were cirrhosis free. Levels of AFP at the diagnostic were less than 500 UI/mL in 33 (51%) patients over 500 UI/mL in 16 (25%) patients and over 5000 UI/mL in 16 patients. We could notice that higher values were found in cirrhotic patients.

Conclusions

Lower educational level, clinical findings and cirrhosis were associated with higher incidence of HCC. We could not find any relation between gender and HCC. Quantitative elevation of AFP is higher in cirrhotic patients than in non-cirrhotic patients. Our series concludes that the surveillance of HCC in cirrhotic patients is with ultrasound and AFP levels.