Most of the patients with cirrhosis in Japan die from hepatocellular carcinoma.

A total of 424 patients with cirrhosis were entered into a registry in Japan. One hundred and seven patients were hepatitis B virus (HBV) associated cirrhosis while 252 were hepatitis C virus (HCV) associated cirrhosis. Patients were followed for a period of 3.3+/-3. 3 years. Fifty-six (80%) of 70 deaths in HBV patients and 151 (90%) of 161 deaths in HCV patients were due to complications associated with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). The complication rate of HCC in HCV group was significantly higher than in HBV group. In conclusion, most of the patients with cirrhosis died from HCC.