Screening for extrahepatic metastases by additional staging modalities is required for hepatocellular carcinoma patients beyond modified UICC stage T1.

Background/aims: Accurate staging of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is critical for guiding optimal treatment, and the presence of extrahepatic metastases (EHM) can seriously affect the optimal choice of treatment in the sorafenib era. However, there is limited data about when and how to screen EHM for newly diagnosed HCC patients, especially for patients without symptoms or signs of EHM.

Methodology: We analyzed 314 newly diagnosed HCC patients who had no symptoms or signs of EHM and who had undergone additional modalities.

Results: EHM was found in 50 of 314 patients (15.9%). Fifteen of 50 EHM (30%) were missed by conventional modalities but revealed by additional modalities. The frequency of EHM were 0% (0/26), 7.6% (10/131), 25.0% (30/120) and 27.0% (10/37) for the modified UICC stages T1, T2, T3 and T4, respectively (p<0.001). The proportions of EHM detected by additional modalities were 50% (5/10 EHM), 33% (10/30 EHM) and 0% (0/10 EHM) for modified UICC stages T2, T3 and T4, respectively.

Conclusions: Application of additional staging modalities resulted in change of HCC stage in a significant proportion of HCC patients beyond modified UICC stage T1 by revealing EHM that had not been detected by conventional modalities.