The development of hepatocellular carcinoma from liver cirrhosis during a follow-up study.

A prospective study was carried out in 126 cases with liver cirrhosis attending the outpatient clinic of Hepatology of the Department of Internal Medicine, Dr. Cipto Mangunkusmo Hospital Jakarta, between August 1, 1982 and Dec. 31, 1985. The patients consisted of 82 men and 44 women and there were 45 HBsAg positive cases (36.7%). HBeAg was positive in 35.6% (16/45) and 40.0% were anti-HBe positive while both markers were negative in 24.4%. During the follow-up study 27 cases died. The cause of death was due to variceal bleeding in 9 cases (33.3%) and hepatic failure in 9 cases (33.3%). In 6 cases (22.2%) hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) was the cause of death. Nine cases out of 94 traceable cases (13.7%) were developed HCC. They consisted of 4 cases out of 29 cases (13.8%) with HBsAg positive and 5 cases out of 65 cases (7.7%). But no significant difference was observed between both groups. The length of observation period from the first time of diagnosis until development of HCC was from 1 to 6 years with an average of 2.9 years.