A comparison between hepatocellular carcinoma-developing and non-carcinoma-developing patients with cirrhosis over a long follow-up period.

An attempt was made to identify possible risk factors for developing hepatocellular carcinoma by comparing 48 autopsy cases that developed hepatocellular carcinoma and 40 autopsy cases that did not develop hepatocellular carcinoma during a follow-up period of more than three years after the diagnosis of cirrhosis. Serum hepatitis B surface antigen positivity, Child's A grade and a family history of chronic liver disease and/or HBV carrier were significant independent risk factors for the progression to hepatocellular carcinoma (p less than 0.05, p less than 0.01, p less than 0.05, respectively). Hepatocellular carcinoma tended to develop in hepatitis B surface antigen-positive males with a history of excessive alcohol intake. These results suggest that more careful and frequent examinations with various imaging modalities are needed for early detection of hepatocellular carcinoma in cirrhotic patients with these risk factors.