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Hepatocellular carcinoma, a type of liver cancer, is the sixth most common cancer worldwide and the third leading cause of cancer-related deaths. Screening efforts for this cancer focus on individuals diagnosed with viral hepatitis or those known to have irreversible liver scarring, or cirrhosis. Due in part to increasing rates of obesity, another major risk factor is emerging, metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD), but factors associated with MASLD are not included in current screening practices. In response, researchers at Yale have developed and validated a new risk score for hepatocellular carcinoma that considers these factors. Their work, “Risk Score for Hepatocellular Cancer in Adults Without Viral Hepatitis or Cirrhosis” was published on November 6, 2024, in JAMA Network Open.

Hepatocellular carcinoma is the most common form of liver cancer in adults. Hepatitis C infection is a known cause of hepatocellular carcinoma because the virus causes chronic inflammation and scarring of the liver, known as cirrhosis. Newer anti-viral drugs offer highly effective cures for hepatitis C, leading to stabilization of hepatitis C-related liver disease and decreased rates of hepatocellular carcinoma. Although new infections can occur at any age, the “baby boomer” generation born between 1945-1965 represents the largest population affected by hepatitis C in the United States. Yale's new research looked at whether ongoing liver cancer screening for individuals who achieved hepatitis C cure improves their overall survival rates.

Meet Glenn Belinsky, a research associate in the Section of Digestive Diseases, who studies risk factors for Parkinson’s disease in patients with Gaucher disease.

Yale researchers have collaborated with other experts in the field of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), or liver cancer, to develop the most recent American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases (AASLD) practice guidance for liver cancer.

While a single rare disease may only affect a small proportion of the population, as many as 10 percent of Americans live with rare diseases, and most of those 30 million people have limited or no treatments and lack access to expert care. Now, Yale School of Medicine is joining the NORD Rare Disease Centers of Excellence network with a mission to provide better care for patients with large unmet needs.

In a new paper, Pramod Mistry and colleagues describe a thriving program that provides therapies to people with rare diseases.