Obesity, hepatitis C epidemics drive ‘alarming’ increase in liver cancer incidence, mortality

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There is a very good overview of liver cancer incidence and treatment in the current HemOnc Today, a part of the Healio Network. The article is long and we encourage our readers to read all of it.

A SEER analysis published this summer revealed staggering statistics about liver cancer in the United States.

Incidence has increased steadily since the mid-1970s, and that trend is expected to continue until at least 2030, according to the report by Islami and colleagues, published in CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians.

In addition, mortality rates for liver cancer — which doubled since the 1980s — are rising faster than for any other malignancy. About 80% of the estimated 40,710 Americans who will be diagnosed in 2017 will die from the disease within 5 years.

A sharp increase in incidence of hepatocellular carcinoma — the most common form of liver cancer — is driving the trend. HCC is the sixth most common malignancy in the country. Cases have tripled in the past 40 years, largely due to the obesity and hepatitis C epidemics. Fatty liver disease — a consequence of obesity — and hepatitis C virus (HCV) both cause cirrhosis, the major risk factor for HCC.

Read the complete article here: https://www.healio.com/hematology-oncology/gastrointestinal-cancer/news/print/hemonc-today/%7B5ebb5253-ae8d-440d-ada3-e9d08eda9f34%7D/obesity-hepatitis-c-epidemics-drive-alarming-increase-in-liver-cancer-incidence-mortality