Primary Carcinoma of the Liver in Relation to Cirrhosis

Incidence of primary carcinoma of the liver in the west of Scotland between 1949 and 1965.

“…It seems that the tumour may be associated with any type of cirrhosis and in some reports it has been predominantly of the fatty or alcoholic variety (eg, Parker, 1957;Eppstein, 1964). Our findings are similar to those of most recent observers who describe liver cancer as a complication predominantly of coarse multilobular cirrhosis (Gall, 1960;Miyai and Ruebner, 1963;Sagebiel, McFarland, and Taft, 1963;Patton and Horn, 1964;San Jose, Cady, West, Chomet, and Zimmerman, 1965). Post-hepatitic and post-necrotic varieties may be recognized, but in our experience this subdivision was sometimes uncertain on morphological grounds, while the clinical history was usually uninformative.…”

Cirrhosis and hepatoma in alcoholics.

“…Gall (1960b), Sagebiel, McFarland, and Taft (1963), and Patton and Horn (1964) observed a higher incidence of hepatoma in post-necrotic and post-hepatitic cirrhosis than in nutritional cirrhosis, a point confirmed in the present series as far as the coarsely nodular group is concerned. Kay (1964) found only two cases of previous hepatitis on reviewing the records of 96 patients with hepatoma.…”

Hepatic zinc concentrations in primary cancer of the liver

“…The statement by Addink and Frank (1959) that high serum zinc levels occur in association with tumours arising in tissues rich in zinc, such as the liver, would therefore not apply to PLC when cirrhosis is present. PLC is commonly associated with cirrhosis, the figure ranging from 16 to 80% in different parts of the world (MacDonald, 1957;Sagebiel, McFarland and Taft, 1963;Ying et al, 1963;Lin, 1970). Between 50 and 100% of these tumours in the indigenous people of southern Africa occur in cirrhotic livers (Berman, 1951;Becker and Chatgidakis, 1961;Geddes and Falkson, 1970), and in this series the figure was 66%.…”

“…High zinc levels might then be expected in the unaffected liver tissue in patients with primary hepatic cancer (PLC). Investigation of this possibility is complicated by the fact that PLC frequently develops in cirrhotic livers (Sagebiel, McFarland and Taft, 1963;Lin, 1970), which may have subnormal zinc concentrations (Vallee et al, 1957;Butt and Higginson, 1957;Boyett and Sullivan, 1970). A comparison was therefore made between the zinc levels in both cirrhotic and non-cirrhotic livers associated with PLC and those in non-cirrhotic livers without PLC.…”