[A study of familial case histories of hepatocellular carcinoma--285 cases in Saga Prefectural Hospital].

We studied whether familial case histories of a liver cancers might be associated with the high mortality rate from liver cancers in Saga prefecture. Examined were 285 familial case histories of a hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) incurred by parents, siblings, and children during the past 10 years. Familial case histories of patients with a gastric cancer and/or apoplexy also were studied as controls. The incidence of various types of cancers, including liver cancers and gastric cancers, in the family members of the HCC group was found to be the same as seen in family members of the gastric cancer group, but higher than in the families of the apoplexy group. Further, the HCC incidence rate in family members in the HCC group was not high as compared to the average for the whole of Japan. The HBsAg was not found to be associated with the rate of liver cancer in family members in the HCC group. Also, there was no high incidence of liver cancer was observed in children of parents with a liver cancer. From these results, we have concluded that high incidence of liver cancer seen in Saga prefecture was not associated with any familial clustering of HCC cases.