Aim:

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the second most common cause of cancer related deaths worldwide. Therefore, early diagnosis is too important for HCC. The aim of this study was to evaluate the predictive value of albumin-bilirubin index (ALBI) and platelet-albumin-bilirubin index (PALBI) on the development of HCC in patients with cirrhosis.

Materials and Methods:

331 patients with liver cirrhosis due to chronic hepatitis B and chronic hepatitis B + D who were admitted to Demiroğlu Bilim University between 2004-2019 were included in the study. The patients were divided into two main groups, with and without HCC. Demographic data, body mass index (BMI), Child and MELD scores and laboratory findings of the patients were recorded and analyzed separately for the groups. Mean ALBI and PALBI values were calculated for both groups. The relationships between ALBI, PALBI and HCC were evaluated.

Results:

The mean age of the patients was 51.3 ± 9.18 and, the mean BMI was 30.04 ± 11.65. The HCC group consisted of 115 patients and the non-HCC cirrhosis group consisted of 216 patients. Mean ALBI and PALBI score values were significantly lower in HCC group than in non-HCC cirrhosis group (p<0,001). Area under curve values (AUC) were calculated 0.775 for the ALBI and 0.733 for the PALBI.

Conclusion:

Although ALBI and PALBI have been developed to predict the survival and prognosis of HCC, we concluded that ALBI and PALBI may also be useful predictors of HCC development in cirrhosis.

Keywords: ALBI, PALBI, Hepatocellular carcinoma, Cirrhosis