Wenyi Gu, postdoctoral researcher at University Hospital Münster, Germany, and first author in the paper, says: “Liver stiffness measurements (LSM) play a pivotal role in identifying patients at elevated risk for liver cancer. Increased liver stiffness often indicates more advanced fibrosis and inflammation, which are conditions closely linked to a higher likelihood of hepatocellular carcinoma development. Alongside LSM, factors such as age, sex, platelet count, liver disease etiology, and coexisting conditions like viral hepatitis or steatosis allow us to gain a comprehensive understanding of a patient’s cancer risk. These factors combined are essential for accurate, personalized risk assessment in patients with advanced chronic liver diseases, enabling us to pinpoint those who may benefit most from intensive surveillance.”

This new approach will help clinicians prioritize follow-up for patients at highest risk, while limiting screening frequency for those at lower risk.“This tool has the potential to significantly refine current liver cancer screening practices by offering a risk-stratified approach. Patients identified in the high-risk category can be monitored more closely with biannual screening, while lower-risk individuals may require less frequent follow-up. By focusing resources on patients most in need, we aim to improve early detection of hepatocellular carcinoma and optimize screening protocols, ultimately enhancing patient outcomes in advanced chronic liver disease management”, Gu explains.

“We are currently testing this tool in a multicenter randomized controlled trial across Germany, with partial funding from the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research. We’re hopeful for positive results from the DETECT study, which is now open and recruiting participants at seven German university hospitals”, Trebicka adds.

Other authors in the study are Victor de Lédinghen, Christophe Aubé, Aleksander Krag, Christian Strassburg, Laurent Castéra, Jérôme Dumortier, Mireen Friedrich-Rust, Stanislas Pol, Ivica Grgurevic, Yasmin Zeleke, Michael Praktiknjo, Robert Schierwagen, Sabine Klein, Sven Francque, Halima Gottfriedová, Ioan Sporea, Philipp Schindler, Florian Rennebaum, Maximilian Joseph Brol, Martin Schulz, Frank Erhard Uschner, Julia Fischer, Cristina Margini, Wenping Wang, Adèle Delamarre, Jan Best, Ali Canbay, David Josef Maria Bauer, Benedikt Simbrunner, Georg Semmler, Thomas Reiberger, Jérôme Boursier, Ditlev Nytoft Rasmussen, Valérie Vilgrain, Aymeric Guibal, Stefan Zeuzem, Camille Vassord, Luisa Vonghia, Renata Šenkeříková, Alina Popescu, Annalisa Berzigotti, Wim Laleman, Maja Thiele, and Christian Jansen.