Years of life that could be saved from prevention of hepatocellular carcinoma

Summary Background Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) causes premature death and loss of life expectancy worldwide. Its primary and secondary prevention can result in a significant number of years of life saved. Aim To assess how many years of life are lost after HCC diagnosis. Methods Data from 5346 patients with first HCC diagnosis were used to estimate lifespan and number of years of life lost after tumour onset, using a semi‐parametric extrapolation having as reference an age‐, sex‐ and year‐of‐onset‐matched population derived from national life tables. Results Between 1986 and 2014, HCC lead to an average of 11.5 years‐of‐life lost for each patient. The youngest age‐quartile group (18–61 years) had the highest number of years‐of‐life lost, representing approximately 41% of the overall benefit obtainable from prevention. Advancements in HCC management have progressively reduced the number of years‐of‐life lost from 12.6 years in 1986–1999, to 10.7 in 2000–2006 and 7.4 years in 2007–2014. Currently, an HCC diagnosis when a single tumour