What is it about?
Bone metastases (BM) are rare in patients with early-stage hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). In many centers, liver transplantation (LTx) policies require patients with HCC to undergo bone scans (BSs).
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Why is it important?
BS was performed in 259 of 328 patients (78.9%) and was suggestive of BM in only one (0.4%). The one- and five-yr post-transplant survival rates were 81% and 69%, respectively, in the BS group vs. 78% and 62%, respectively, in patients who did not undergo BS (p = 0.25). BS generated expenditures of US$39 296 and was not cost-effective
Perspectives
Whole-body BSs do not appear tobe indicated in patients with early-stage HCC who are candidates for treatment with curative intent,unless there is clinical suspicion of extrahepatic disease. At our center, routine ordering of BSs increased treatment costs without improving patient selection.
Professor Ajacio B M Brandao
Universidade Federal de Ciencias da Saude de Porto Alegre
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Cost-effectiveness of whole-body bone scans in the pre-liver transplant assessment of patients with hepatocellular carcinoma in Southern Brazil, Clinical Transplantation, March 2016, Wiley,
DOI: 10.1111/ctr.12699.
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