Liu CH, et al. - Authors attempted to assess the diagnostic performance of squamous cell carcinoma antigen (SCCA) and its immune complex (SCCA-IgM) and of both combined with alpha-foetoprotein. The sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative likelihood ratios, diagnostic odds ratio (DOR) and area under curve (AUC) for the diagnosis of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) were pooled after a systematic review of the relevant studies using bivariate meta-analysis. The results obtained from this meta-analysis suggested that both SCCA and SCCA-IgM showed a moderate diagnostic accuracy for HCC screening. The findings demonstrated that the combination of SCCA-IgM and AFP was the best diagnostic option.