Hepatitis B antigen in the liver in hepatocellular carcinoma in Shikoku, Japan.

An analysis of 105 autopsy cases (77 male, 28 female) of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) showed that 90 cases (85.7%) were associated with liver cirrhosis, of which 75 cases (83.3%) were of the macronodular type. Hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) was detected with orcein stain in the hepatic tissue in 58 cases (55.2%). The incidence of HBsAg in cases of HCC patients with cirrhosis (58.9%) was higher, but not significantly, than that in those without cirrhosis (33.3%). The mean age of HBsAg-positive cases was five years less than that of HBsAg-negative cases, the age distributions therefore being significantly different.