A case of hepatocellular carcinoma occurring in a cirrhotic liver--laparoscopically confirmed transition from a cirrhotic nodule to a hepatocellular carcinoma at an interval of 10 months.

Laparoscopy is a very reliable diagnostic procedure for diagnosing hepatocellular carcinoma occurring in the cirrhotic liver. In this paper, the clinical course of a patient, in whom the transition from a cirrhotic nodule to a hepatocellular carcinoma could be detected laparoscopically and bioptically by means of repeated laparoscopic and simultaneous bioptic examinations in an interval of 10 months, is described. Laparoscopy makes it possible to detect a premalignant nodule in the nodular liver.