ctDNA monitoring may add a more dynamic layer to HCC surveillance after resection or transplant, helping clinicians assess recurrence risk and treatment response.
Key Highlights
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By detecting minimal residual disease (MRD) within weeks of resection or transplant, ctDNA allows clinicians to distinguish patients at high risk for recurrence from those who may safely avoid additional therapy.
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While traditional tools — imaging every three months, alpha‑fetoprotein testing — have known limitations, ctDNA provides an additional, more sensitive layer of surveillance for recurrence.
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Because ctDNA levels rise and fall in real time, clinicians can assess whether systemic or locoregional therapies are benefiting the patient — often before changes are visible on imaging.
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How ctDNA (tumor‑derived) and circulating free DNA (donor‑derived) can be assessed together — helping clinicians monitor both oncologic outcomes and early organ rejection.
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As transplantation expands as a treatment option for select GI malignancies, ctDNA emerges as a critical biomarker to guide patient selection, post‑transplant surveillance and long‑term management.
Circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) is rapidly reshaping the field of precision oncology, including how oncologists assess and guide treatment of a patient's specific cancer.
In this whiteboard demonstration, Dr. Maen Abdelrahim, chief of GI Medical Oncology at Houston Methodist, explains the biological rationale, clinical applications and institutional data supporting ctDNA as a dynamic, quantitative biomarker for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) — the most common form of primary liver cancer.
Drawing on real-world experience in surgical resection and liver transplantation, Dr. Abdelrahim highlights how ctDNA can outperform traditional surveillance tools, refine post-curative risk stratification and enable earlier, more actionable clinical decisions.