A simultaneous monitoring of Lens culinaris agglutinin A-reactive alpha-fetoprotein and des-gamma-carboxy prothrombin as an early diagnosis of hepatocellular carcinoma in the follow-up of cirrhotic patients

To elucidate the risk factors for developing hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) during the follow-up of patients with liver cirrhosis (LC), outpatients wi th LC were examined periodically by means of serum biochemical assessments, ultrasonography, and computed tomography. Risk factors for HCC were statis tically analyzed. We also examined an efficacy of Lens culinaris agglutinin A-reactive profiles of alpha-fetoprotein (AFP-L3%) and des-gamma-carboxy p rothrombin (DCP) value using a highly sensitive DCP determination kit (ED03 6) for the early recognition of HCC. The AFP-L3% and the ED036 value were r etrospectively determined with stored serum samples. HCC was diagnosed in 2 1 of the 78 patients with LC during the follow-up period (mean follow-up pe riod: 42 months). The estimated cumulative incidence of HCC was 25% with 3 years and 48% with 5 years. The most significant risk factor for the develo pment of HCC in LC patients was found to be the mean serum AFP concentratio n from the year before the HCC detection (p=0.02). At the time of the recog nition of HCC, the positive rates of the tumor markers were: serum AFP conc entration 14%, serum DCP value 5%, AFP-L3% was 33%, and that of ED036 43%. The positive rate in collaborative use of AFP-L3% and ED036 was 67%. The si multaneous determination of the AFP-L3% and the ED036 value was shown to be effective for the early detection of HCC.