Hepatocellular carcinoma in HBsAg-negative chronic active hepatitis.

The occurrence of hepatocellular carcinoma in HBsAg-negative chronic active hepatitis is described in two patients. signs of the tumour appeared 18 years and nine years after the first clinical signs of chronic active hepatitis, although in one patients analysis of stored sera showed the serum alpha-fetoprotein levels had been rising over the previous 33 months. Female preponderance in HBsAg-negative chronic active hepatitis may partly account for the rarity of this complication, and the occurrence of hepatocellular carcinoma may also be a reflection of the better survival now being obtained in HBsAg-negative chronic hepatitis.