Findings in Hepatocellular Carcinoma Reported from University of Houston (Hepatocellular Carcinoma Surveillance Among Cirrhotic Patients With…

Findings in Hepatocellular Carcinoma Reported from University of Houston (Hepatocellular Carcinoma Surveillance Among Cirrhotic Patients With Commercial Health Insurance)

By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Insurance Weekly News -- New research on Digestive System Diseases and Conditions is the subject of a report. According to news reporting from Houston, Texas, by VerticalNews journalists, research stated, "To evaluate hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) surveillance rates among commercially insured patients, and evaluate factors associated with compliance with surveillance recommendations. Most HCC occurs in patients with cirrhosis."

The news correspondents obtained a quote from the research from the University of Houston, "American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases and European Association for the Study of the Liver guidelines each recommend biannual HCC surveillance for cirrhotic patients to diagnose HCC at an early, curable stage. However, compliance with these guidelines in commercially insured patients is unknown. We used the Truven Health Analytics databases from 2006 to 2010, using January 1, 2006 as the anchor date for evaluating outcomes. The primary outcome was continuous surveillance measure, defined as the proportion of time 'up-to-date' with surveillance (PTUDS), with the 6-month interval immediately following each ultrasound categorized as 'up-to-date.' Results: During a median follow-up of 22.9 (interquartile range, 16.3 to 33.9) months among 8916 cirrhotic patients, the mean PTUDS was 0.34 (SD, 0.29), and the median was 0.31 (interquartile range, 0.03 to 0.52). These values increased only modestly with inclusion of serum alpha-fetoprotein testing, contrast-enhanced abdominal computed tomographic scans or magnetic resonance imagings, and/or extension of up-to-date time to 12 months. Being diagnosed by a nongastroenterology provider and increasing age were significantly associated with decreased HCC surveillance (P < 0.05), whereas a history of a hepatic decompensation event, presence of any component of the metabolic syndrome, and diagnosis of hepatitis B or hepatitis C were significantly associated with increased surveillance (P < 0.05). However, even among patients with the most favorable characteristics, surveillance rates remained low."

According to the news reporters, the research concluded: "HCC surveillance rates in commercially insured at-risk patients remain poor despite formalized guidelines, highlighting the need to develop interventions to improve surveillance rates."

For more information on this research see: Hepatocellular Carcinoma Surveillance Among Cirrhotic Patients With Commercial Health Insurance. Journal of Clinical Gastroenterology, 2016;50(3):258-265. Journal of Clinical Gastroenterology can be contacted at: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, Two Commerce Sq, 2001 Market St, Philadelphia, PA 19103, USA. (Lippincott Williams and Wilkins - www.lww.com; Journal of Clinical Gastroenterology - journals.lww.com/jcge/pages/default.aspx)

Our news journalists report that additional information may be obtained by contacting D.S. Goldberg, University of Houston, Dept. of Pharmaceut Hlth Outcomes & Policy, Houston, TX, United States. Additional authors for this research include A. Valderrama, R. Kamalakar, S.S. Sansgiry, S. Babajanyan and J.D. Lewis.

Keywords for this news article include: Texas, Houston, Oncology, Hepatitis, United States, Liver Diseases, Gastroenterology, Health Insurance, Infectious Disease, Hepatocellular Carcinoma, North and Central America, Digestive System Diseases and Conditions

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