Minister of Health and Welfare Shih Chung-liang (石崇良) yesterday said the ministry is expanding efforts to eliminate hepatitis B and enhance early detection of liver cancer.
Taiwan achieved the WHO’s hepatitis C elimination goals in December last year, ahead of the global health body’s timeline. The WHO is aiming to eliminate viral hepatitis as a public health threat by 2030. It aims for a 90 percent diagnosis rate and an 80 percent treatment rate of hepatitis C.
Taiwan also submitted its report on eliminating hepatitis C to the WHO Western Pacific office for validation earlier this year.
Photo: CNA
At a news conference held by the Good Liver Foundation in Taipei yesterday morning, Shih said that Taiwan has established a prevention and control model that could be shared with the international community.
Following the achievement, Taiwan must follow up by expanding efforts in eliminating hepatitis B, enhancing early liver cancer detection, and preventing non-viral hepatitis, obesity and fatty liver disease, he said.
Liver cancer is the second-leading cause of cancer deaths in Taiwan, with more than 7,000 deaths reported annually, Shih said, adding that about 40 percent of those cases were diagnosed at advanced stages, which require high treatment costs, but usually have poor prognosis.
The Health Promotion Administration is drafting a new national cancer control program and would launch an early detection initiative for non-viral liver cancer, he said, adding that the agency is working on a liver cancer risk assessment model tailored to Taiwanese.
Meanwhile, most early-stage liver diseases have no noticeable symptoms, so an ultrasound is the easiest non-invasive way to detect early-stage liver cirrhosis and cancer, but its accuracy is highly dependent on the experience of the technician operating the scan, the foundation said.
It said it cooperated with National Taiwan University Hospital and video solution provider Yuan High-Tech to develop artificial intelligence (AI)-powered software named “iGood Liver AI” (肝瘤偵), which provides real-time, automatic detection and differentiation of liver tumors during standard ultrasound exams.
The software uses deep learning, is capable of outlining areas suspected of having tumors, and automatically differentiates between benign and malignant growths, foundation chief executive officer Nien Hsiao-ching (粘曉菁) said.
Liver cancer is one of the most prevalent cancers in Asia, Liver Disease Prevention and Treatment Research Foundation chairman Hsu Ching-chuan (許金川) said.
Ultrasounds are more widely accessible and cost-effective than CT and MRI scans, which makes them essential for liver disease screening, Hsu said.
The software would not replace physicians, but serve as a “second pair of eyes” that assist in identifying suspicious lesions that might be overlooked, increasing the chances of early detection, he said.
The Good Liver Foundation announced that it has raised funding to purchase 50 sets of iGood Liver AI, which it would donate to healthcare facilities in remote areas.
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