Metastatic carcinoma in cirrhotic liver--Statistical survey of autopsies in Japan.

Autopsy records for the period of 1958-1972 in Japan as listed in 'The Annual of the Pathological Autopsy Cases' were reviewed and the incidence of metastatic neoplasms in the cirrhotic liver was surveyed. This included data from 240,377 patients of which 8,798 cases (3.66%) had liver cirrhosis excluding biliary and cardiac types. Those who had coexistent liver cirrhosis and extrahepatic malignant neoplasm totalled 737 (8.4% of the cirrhotics). Of these 737 patients, 194 had metastatic neoplasms to the cirrhotic liver (26.3% of those who had cirrhosis and neoplasms). The incidence of hepatic matastases in the non-cirrhotics was 38.3% during the period 1958-1959, and 43.2% in 1967-1968. The difference in incidence of metastasis to the cirrhotic as opposed to the non-cirrhotic liver is statistically significant. This finding supports the claim that metastatic neoplasms to the cirrhotic liver are less frequent than metastasis to the non-cirrhotic liver. However, they are by no means rare. These results may be due to that the patients with both cirrhosis and neoplasms can not live long enough for metastasis to develop.