At least 60% of liver cancers could be preventable, according to an analysis published on Monday in Lancet.
Liver cancer is the sixth most common cancer in the world, with around 870,000 cases in 2022. That is projected to increase to 1.52 million cases in 2050, according to the new report, if no changes are made.
The main cause of liver cancer is viral infections, including hepatitis B and C. viruses Hepatitis B infections, which can be prevented with a vaccine, represented 39% of liver cancers in 2022. That is expected to fall slightly, to 36.9%, by 2025.
However, it is projected that the proportions of liver cancers related to alcohol and obesity will increase in the next 25 years. Alcohol represented 18.8% of liver cancers in 2022, and is expected to increase at 21.1% in 2050. It is projected that the participation of liver cancers caused by the disease related to obesity increases from 8% to 10.8% by 2050 due to growing rates of obesity, diabetes and high metabolic risk factors.
Dr. Hashem El-Serag, one of the co-authors of the report and president of the Baylor College of Medicine de Houston Medicine, said the public generally thinks about alcohol as the greatest risk factor for liver cancer.
“I think for most people, if you say cirrhosis, they immediately think of a relative, of someone who was a heavy drinker,” said El-Serag. “I think the vast majority does not make the link between Masld or fatty liver, and cirrhosis and liver cancer.”
Steatotic liver disease associated with metabolic dysfunction or Masld affects approximately 25% of adults in the US. UU. It is caused by an accumulation of fat in the liver. About 5% of American adults have a more severe form, called steatohepatitis associated with metabolic dysfunction (mash), which can lead to scars or cirrhosis, from the liver, significantly increasing the risk of cancer.
Excess alcohol consumption can also lead to cirrhosis.
Liver cancer remains relatively rare in the United States, which represents 2.1% of all new cancer diagnoses in 2025. The report estimated that by 2040, US Masld rates could. UU. They could more than double, which affected more than 55% of adults.
Detection of liver cancer risk factors
The previous detection and effective treatment plans for MASLD can reduce the risk of liver cancer related to obesity, said El-Serag. The most common treatment is weight loss. GP-1 weight loss drugs, which include Ozempic and Wegovy, are promising, he said. (A clinical trial published in April found that puree treated with crying in approximately two thirds of patients).
However, people are not examined for Masld as they are by viral hepatitis, said El-Serag.
Dr. Arun Jesusian, hepatologist and director of hepatic quality and liver services of patients hospitalized in Weill Cornell Medicine and Newyork-Presbyterian, said that patients are evaluated for MASLD and/or puree if they have high liver enzymes in their blood.
Getting awareness about Masld between patients and doctors can lead to more effective tests and diagnoses, said Jesusian.
“I think we must ensure that suppliers that interact with these patients are looking at the component of the liver disease of metabolic syndrome,” he said, referring to patients with a group of conditions that include high blood sugar, high blood pressure and excess weight. “So verifying liver enzymes, which know how to evaluate fibrosis, even depending on these blood test scores.”
Masld and Mash often can be asymptomatic, making self -destination more challenging.
“At this time, it’s casual. Some people feel the test. Others are suspected. Third, who knows?” Said the-Serag.
Dr. Neehar Parikh, a hepatologist at the University of Michigan who specializes in liver cancer, said he is seeing more patients with Masld as a driving factor for liver cancer.
Patients with MASLD can develop unable cirrhosis liver cancer, which makes it even more difficult to detect those cases, said Parikh. According to the report, up to 40% of those with liver cancers linked to Masld do not develop cirrhosis, according to the report.
Deciding who these patients are is the “question of one million dollars,” he said. “Those patients who develop Masld who develop liver cancer, you know, how is that population detected? We really don’t know what to do.”
Even so, Parikh said this type of cases are rare.
Ultimately, Jesusian said: “Treating these liver diseases is the best way to prevent liver cancer, because liver cancer almost always occurs in the context of chronic liver disease.”
