Primary hepatic carcinoma. Its incidence and relationship to HBsAg.

The records of all patients with primary hepatic carcinoma diagnosed between 1971 and 1976 at Michael Reese Hospital in Chicago were reviewed. Of 175,953 discharges only 43 were for primary hepatic carcinoma; one for 4,080 admissions as compared to one per 193 admissions for primary colonic carcinoma. The patients ranged in age from three to 80 years with a mean age of 60.25 years. Twenty-one patients were represented by the 43 admissions. Twelve patients were black, eight were caucasian, while 12 patients were found to have cirrhosis of which at least eight patients had micronodular cirrhosis. Since this was a retrospective study only 12 patients had HBsAg and Ab determinations. One was positive for both antigen and antibody, while one was positive for antigen only and one for antibody only. Tissue diagnosis revealed hepatocellular carcinoma in 19 patients and cholangiocellular carcinoma in two. Most patients lived on to three years after diagnosis.