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Hepatitis B and C predominant causes of HCC across the globe

Researchers in France confirmed that hepatitis B and C cause most cases of hepatocellular carcinoma in nearly all world areas.

“We confirm the predominance of HBV and HCV in the etiology of HCC in virtually all world areas and highlight the growing fraction of hepatocellular carcinoma cases attributable to HCV infection in several countries,” Catherine de Martel, MD, PhD, of the International Agency for Research on Cancer in Lyon, France, and colleagues wrote.

De Martel and colleagues conducted a systematic review of 260 studies that included 119,000 hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) cases in 50 countries.

The researchers found that most European and American countries had more patients with HCV than HBV and had a large amount of viral marker-negative cases. Asian and African countries had a predominance of HBV. Japan, Taiwan, Pakistan, Mongolia, Northern Africa and Western-Central Asia had a significant number of HCV-positive patients with HCC. Brazil, Germany and the United States had higher rates of HCV-positive HCC than in the year 2000, while Japan and Italy had lower rates.

“Improvements in the efficacy of treatments of HBV and HCV infection encourage great hopes for HCC prevention in chronic carriers of the two infections, but limited access and high cost of mass viral screening and new drugs are major challenges for secondary prevention,” de Martel and colleagues wrote. “Therefore, we should reiterate the need for primary prevention of viral infections, notably universal vaccination against HBV, safe injections and blood transfusion practices, and avoidance of parenteral treatment when oral alternatives are available.” – by Will Offit

Disclosures: The researchers report no relevant financial disclosures.