Data-Mining for Personalized Surveillance of HCC in Chronic HCV-related Liver Disease

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the most common primary malignant tumor of the liver and the fifth most frequent malignant tumor in the world (third in terms of mortality) (Parkin et al., 2001). An association was observed between the occurrence of HCC and viral hepatitis (either HBV or HCV) (Saeed et al., 2012 ). Studies had demonstrated that unlike other countries of the Middle East, the attributable fraction of HCC due to hepatitis C virus (HCV) is quite high in Egypt (Ezzat et al., 2005). Egypt has the highest prevalence of hepatitis C virus (HCV) in the world, ranging from 15% to 25% in rural communities (Strickland et al., 2002; Kurosaki M et al., 2010). This high prevalence in a country with a population census of about ninety million results in a massive number of HCV-infected patients (12-22 million). This, in turn, results in massive numbers of HCV related HCC. All HCV related liver cirrhosis patients are recommended for HCC surveillance according to