Hi-Precision Diagnostics, the country’s leading medical laboratory, launched the HCC Risk Panel at the 2020 Philippine Liver Meeting last January 22-23, 2020 in Edsa Shangri La Hotel, Mandaluyong. For the first time in the Philippines, the HCC Risk Panel was formally introduced to delegates of the Hepatology Society of the Philippines as a new tool for early liver cancer detection.
Hepatitis B, which affects an estimated 10 percent of Filipinos, is the most common cause of Hepatocellular Carcinoma (HCC) or primary cancer of the liver in the Philippines. While cases of Hepatitis B and fatty liver continue to increase in the country, the incidence of liver cancer in the Philippines is expected to remain significant.
Unfortunately, majority of patients with HCC are diagnosed too late for curative treatment, making it the 2nd most common cause of cancer death in the Philippines.
Hepatology professional society guidelines worldwide recommend screening for liver cancer in patients with cirrhosis of various causes (Hepatitis B, Hepatitis C, Fatty Liver, etc.). Most guidelines recommend liver ultrasound and alpha fetoprotein (AFP), a blood tumor marker, every 6 months. The HCC Risk Panel increases the sensitivity of liver cancer screening by adding 2 other tumor markers to AFP: alphafetoprotein L3 (AFP-L3) and des-gamma-carboxy prothrombin (DCP) or PIVKA.
In his symposium, Dr. Hiroyuki Yamada, Ph.D., Fujifilm Wako Pure Chemicals representative, discussed how more comprehensive tumor marker screening including AFP, AFP L3, and DCP has improved liver cancer detection and survival in Japan. Liver cancer screening in Japan uses ultrasound and the components of the HCC risk panel every 3-4 months for extremely high-risk patients (cirrhosis from hepatitis B or hepatitis C virus) or every 6 months for high-risk patients (hepatitis B, hepatitis C, non-viral cirrhosis).
The HCC Risk Panel, now available exclusively at Hi Precision Branches nationwide, is performed by testing blood samples to measure all three markers with the µTASWako i30 platform. It is approved as a screening test by the US and Philippine FDA. Ask your physician if the HCC risk panel is right for you, or visit hi-precision.com.ph.