Tung-Hung Su, Sheng-Shun Yang, Mei-Hsuan Lee, Wei-Yu Kao, Shang-Chin Huang, Fen-Fang Chen, Francis SK Poon, Lung-Wen Tsai, Yi-Ting Chen, Che Lin, Weichung Wang, W Ray Kim, Jia-Horng Kao
Clin Mol Hepatol 2025;31(3):796-809. Published online January 6, 2025
Background/Aims There are no hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) surveillance recommendations for non-viral chronic liver diseases (CLD), such as metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD). We explored the Steatosis-Associated Fibrosis Estimator (SAFE) score to predict HCC in MASLD and other CLD etiologies.
Methods Patients with various CLDs were included from medical centers in Taiwan. The SAFE score, consisting of age, body mass index, diabetes, and laboratory data, was calculated at baseline, and patients were traced for new development of HCC. The predictability of the SAFE score for HCC was analyzed using the sub-distribution hazard model with adjustments for competing risks.
Result s: Among 12,963 CLD patients with a median follow-up of 4 years, 258 developed HCC. The SAFE score classifies 1-, 3-, and 5-year HCC risk regardless of CLD etiologies. High (≥100) and intermediate (0–100) SAFE scores increased 11 and 2 folds HCC risks compared to low (<0) SAFE scores. Combining two lower risk tiers (SAFE<100), a high SAFE score (≥100) was associated with a 7.5-fold risk of HCC (adjusted sub-distributional hazard ratio [aSHR] 7.54; 95% confidence interval (CI) 5.38–10.60). A high SAFE score increased the risks of HCC in subgroups of viral hepatitis, non-viral hepatitis (aSHR 11.10; 95% CI 3.97–31.30) and MASLD (aSHR 4.23; 95% CI 1.43–12.50). A hospital cohort (n=8,103) and a community MASLD cohort (n=120,166) validated the high SAFE score (≥100) for HCC risk prediction.
Conclusions The SAFE score stratifies high risks for HCC in CLD patients regardless of etiologies and helps to select at-risk candidates for HCC surveillance.
Citations
Citations to this article as recorded by
HCC predictors in routine practice for patients with chronic liver diseases: Correspondence to editorial on “High SAFE scores predict hepatocellular carcinoma in viral and non-viral hepatitis and metabolic dysfunction associated steatotic liver disease” Tung-Hung Su, Jia-Horng Kao Clinical and Molecular Hepatology.2026; 32(1): e52. CrossRef
Can SAFE score be utilized as a universal hepatocellular carcinoma prediction score?: Editorial on “High Steatosis-Associated Fibrosis Estimator scores predict hepatocellular carcinoma in viral and non-viral hepatitis and metabolic dysfunction-associated Michael Kwan-Lung Ko, Loey Lung-Yi Mak Clinical and Molecular Hepatology.2026; 32(1): 371. CrossRef
Risk stratification for hepatocellular carcinoma in metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease: Editorial on “High Steatosis-Associated Fibrosis Estimator scores predict hepatocellular carcinoma in viral and non-viral hepatitis and metabolic Ho Soo Chun, Minjong Lee Clinical and Molecular Hepatology.2026; 32(1): 368. CrossRef
Background/Aims Real-world studies assessing the effectiveness and safety of sofosbuvir/velpatasvir (SOF/VEL) plus ribavirin (RBV) for Child-Pugh B/C hepatitis C virus (HCV)-related cirrhosis are limited.
Methods We included 107 patients with Child-Pugh B/C HCV-related cirrhosis receiving SOF/VEL plus RBV for 12 weeks in Taiwan. The sustained virologic response rates at off-treatment week 12 (SVR12) for the evaluable population (EP), modified EP, and per-protocol population (PP) were assessed. Thesafety profiles were reported.
Result s: The SVR12 rates in the EP, modified EP and PP were 89.7% (95% confidence interval [CI], 82.5–94.2%), 94.1% (95% CI, 87.8–97.3%), and 100% (95% CI, 96.2–100%). Number of patients who failed to achieve SVR12 were attributed to virologic failures. The SVR12 rates were comparable regardless of patient characteristics. One patient discontinued treatment because of adverse events (AEs). Twenty-four patients had serious AEs and six died, but none were related to SOF/VEL or RBV. Among the 96 patients achieving SVR12, 84.4% and 64.6% had improved Child-Pugh and model for endstage liver disease (MELD) scores. Multivariate analysis revealed that a baseline MELD score ≥15 was associated with an improved MELD score of ≥3 (odds ratio, 4.13; 95% CI, 1.16–14.71; P=0.02). Patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD) stage 1 had more significant estimated glomerular filtration rate declines than patients with CKD stage 2 (-0.42 mL/min/1.73 m2/month; P=0.01) or stage 3 (-0.56 mL/min/1.73 m2/month; P<0.001).
Conclusions SOF/VEL plus RBV for 12 weeks is efficacious and well-tolerated for Child-Pugh B/C HCV-related cirrhosis.
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