What tests can be done to detect early stage liver cancer? Tests for Early Liver Cancer

What tests can detect early liver cancer? When patients have progressive wasting, dyspepsia, discomfort or distension in the liver area, especially those with chronic hepatitis B, cirrhosis or family history of liver cancer, and suspected of early-stage liver cancer, what tests should be done? For those who have not found lesions by ultrasound and CT examination, what examination should be chosen to diagnose early liver cancer? (1) Ultrasound examination Early liver cancer ultrasound is the most commonly used examination for diagnosing early liver cancer, while ultrasound is characterized by easier operation and lower cost, with higher detection rate for most of the liver space-occupying lesions. However, the detection rate of ultrasound is only 33% to 37% for liver cancer nodules of 1cm, so when the early liver cancer nodules are less than 1cm, ultrasound can only be used as a reference, and it needs to be combined with other examinations to confirm the diagnosis. (2) CT examination Among various imaging examinations, CT can best reflect the pathological manifestations of liver, such as the size, shape, location, number of lesions and whether there is hemorrhage and necrosis in the lesions. The infiltrative nature of the lesion can be understood from the edge of the lesion, and the invasive nature of the lesion can be understood from the cancerous embolism and invasion of portal vessels. CT is considered to be the preferred non-invasive diagnostic method to supplement the estimation of the extent of the lesion by ultrasonography. (3) Magnetic **** vibration imaging (MRI) Nuclear magnetic **** vibration examination is a kind of examination that has been developed relatively fast in these years. In the past, nuclear magnetic **** vibration is not as ideal as CT examination, but now, with the continuous development of the technology of nuclear magnetic **** vibration, the scanning time is getting faster and faster and the resolution is getting higher and higher, and it can be used as a relatively accurate judgment for some small foci of the liver, and now the magnetic **** vibration plays a very big role in liver cancer examination. Nowadays, nuclear magnetic **** vibration plays a very big role in the examination of liver cancer. (4) Early primary liver cancer angiography Non-invasive methods such as ultrasound, CT, MRI can detect many small liver cancers. However, angiography still occupies a certain position in the diagnosis of hepatocellular carcinoma, and for small hepatocellular carcinoma under 2 centimeters, angiography can often make diagnosis more accurately and rapidly. When ultrasound, CT, MRI cannot detect or the result is ambiguous and cannot be diagnosed, angiography of primary liver cancer is feasible. (5) Alpha-fetoprotein test When early liver cancer is suspected by ultrasound and/or CT imaging, an alpha-fetoprotein test is usually recommended to assist in the diagnosis. Alpha-fetoprotein test is also one of the most common tests to see if there is any tumor marker. Alpha-fetoprotein has a certain sensitivity for the test, but we also find that some patients do not necessarily have high alpha-fetoprotein in our clinic, and the alpha-fetoprotein of patients with liver cancer can be high, but the patients with low alpha-fetoprotein can not completely exclude the possibility of liver cancer. (6) Liver tissue biopsy or cytological examination Ultrasound or CT-guided biopsy or fine-needle aspiration for histological or cytological examination is an effective method to confirm the diagnosis of small hepatocellular carcinoma with a diameter of less than 2cm. Percutaneous fine-needle aspiration cytology can effectively determine the nature of liver tumors and has high diagnostic accuracy for early primary hepatocellular carcinoma. The most common complication is bleeding. Therefore, it is important to ensure that the patient's coagulation function is normal before the examination. Other serious complications, including spread of cancer cells in the puncture eye and hemorrhage due to injury to small arteries, are relatively rare. Complications are related to the experience and skill of the puncturer and the thickness of the puncture needle. As we know that the detection and timely treatment of early liver cancer has a great influence on the prognosis of patients, so what tests can be done to detect early liver cancer has also been paid attention to. There are many tests for early liver cancer, which can be combined with each other in order to detect early liver cancer more accurately and make liver cancer disappear in the early stage.