AFP, also known as alpha-fetoprotein, is an indicator of liver disease and is a commonly used clinical tumor marker.
In normal people, the concentration of AFP in the blood is very low. When liver cells or embryonic tissues of the gonads undergo malignant changes, alpha-fetoprotein is re-synthesized and released into the blood, which increases the concentration of AFP in the blood, and when cancerous changes occur in the liver cells, AFP can manifest itself as a sharp, high, and continuous increase in concentration.
Clinically, AFP is mainly used for the diagnosis of primary liver cancer and monitoring of treatment efficacy. Besides hepatocellular carcinoma, chronic hepatitis, intrahepatic bile duct stones, and cirrhosis may also show increased AFP, but mostly in low concentrations.
When patients with chronic hepatitis have AFP greater than 400ng/mL in blood, the possibility of primary liver cancer should be suspected, and they need to go to the hospital for further liver ultrasound, CT and other related examinations to make a clear diagnosis, so as to avoid early lesions from being underdiagnosed.