Dr. Dawson on Increasing Causes and Unmet Needs in HCC

Laura Dawson, MD, Princess Margaret Hospital, University of Toronto, discusses increasing causes of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and unmet needs related to the disease.

A growing cause of liver cancer is nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), which can lead to cirrhosis. Dawson says there is a time lapse from when patients with metabolic syndrome can possibly develop NASH, which may lead to cirrhosis. This cause is rapidly increasing, and Dawson says HCC mortality rates are likely to increase in the next few decades.

These predicted increases should lead researchers to make HCC a priority cancer for treatment, screening, and researching treatment outcomes, Dawson says. As more patients will be affected by this disease, she adds that more researchers should work on clinical trials to help move the treatment paradigm forward.