[Cancer cells in the portal and hepatic veins of resected specimens of hepatocellular carcinomas].

After injecting 100 ml of a saline solution into the hepatic artery of 27 livers evidencing a hepatocellular carcinoma, samples from the resected livers were collected through the portal and the hepatic vein. Cancer cells were detected in 4 out of 27 samples from the portal vein and in 1 out of 19 samples from the hepatic vein, and the total number of positive cases were 4. Further, tumors over 5 cm in diameter showed a tendency of flowing cancer cells into the portal vein. Four positive cases had an intrahepatic and a distant metastasis within one year of their operation and two of these patients died.