Pathology of hepatocellular carcinoma in Japan: 232 consecutive cases autopsied in ten years

Abstract

The pathologic findings of 232 consecutive cases of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) autopsied during the past ten years a t Kurume, Japan, were analyzed from the point of view of global epidemiology, in relation to clinical feature, and in regard to incidence, age, sex, etiologic factors, size of liver, changes in noncancer parenchyma, gross type of tumor, extrahepatic metastases, intravascular and intraductal growths, cancer cell histology, hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) in hepatocytes and cancer cells, liver cell dysplasia, and frequency and clinicopathologic characteristics of minute HCC. Furthermore, postmortem hepatic arteriography and portography were done in I52 livers for comparison with gross anatomy and celiac angiograms. It was found that: (1) epidemiologically, HCC in Japan is distinct from that in the West that it is frequently encapsulated, livers are generally small because of frequent and advanced cirrhosis and small cancer, minute NCC, is not uncommon a t autopsy, cirrhosis most commonly associated is the one with thin stroma and medium size nodules, and micronodular cirrhosis is very rare despite frequent alcohol abuse; (2) HCC is increasing in incidence; (3) HBsAg is frequently found in parenchyma; (4) liver cell dysplasia is indirectly related to 11BsAg with no evidence for premalignancy; (5) the lung is the most frequent site of metastasis but peritoneal dissemination is unusual; (6) intraportal tumor growth is very common and the hepatic vein is less frequently affected;(7) growth in the major bile duct is frequently associated with intraportal growth and clinically presents as obstructive jaundice; and (8) tumor is supplied solely by arteries and celiac arteriograms are closely correlated with gross pathologic findings.

Terpenoids as potential chemopreventive and therapeutic agents in liver cancer

“…Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the most common form of primary hepatic carcinoma [1] and a pressing sociomedical problem in several countries, particularly in Asia and sub-Saharan Africa [2] . HCC is currently the fifth most common cancer and third leading cause of cancerrelated deaths in the world [3] .…”

Muscle metastasis from hepatocellular carcinoma in a patient treated with TACE

“…Lymph node and bone metastases are less frequent [4,8]. Nakashima analyzed 232 patients who had died of HCC, and reported the ORL zone (3.1% of the cases) and the brain (2.7%) as unusual sites of metastatic involvement [3]. The spread of neoplastic cells is a possible complication of invasive diagnostic or therapeutic procedures [2,6,7,9].…”

Direct invasion to the colon by hepatocellular carcinoma: Report of two cases

“…HCC with direct invasion to other organs can occur, with the most frequent sites being the diaphragm and gallbladder [6] . HCC only rarely invades the GI tract, the reported incidence is 0.5%-2% of clinical HCC cases and 4% of autopsy cases [2,3,7] . GI bleeding or stenosis due to HCC invasion is very uncommon [8] .…”