Patients with early-stage HCC have 5-year survival rates approaching 70% with curative treatments, compared with a median survival of 1 to 2 years after palliative therapies for those with more-advanced tumor burden.3 Guidelines from the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases and European Association for the Study of the Liver recommend HCC screening using ultrasonography with or without α-fetoprotein (AFP) in high-risk patients, including those with cirrhosis.4,5,6. Here, AFP is linked to hepatocellular carcinoma.