Primary Carcinoma of the Liver

THIS SURVEY covers a series of 18 cases of primary carcinoma of the liver observed at the State of Wisconsin General Hospital between 1928 and 1950. Fifteen of the cases came to autopsy, and 3 were diagnosed by means of surgical exploration. The 15 cases were among a series of 5,228 necropsies, giving an incidence of 0.28 per cent. Of the 18 patients, 17 are now dead and only 1 is living, eight months after the onset of her symptoms and five months after the resection of a solitary hepatoma. In the 17 fatal cases, the average duration of symptoms from their onset to the death of the patient was seven months; the shortest time was one and a half months and the longest time forty-six months. In 1 case death was obviously due to cirrhosis of the liver and only a small hepatoma was found. The average age was 61 years, with the youngest