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A retrospective study of 211 patients with proven hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) was made. The commonest symptoms were anorexia and malaise (73%). Five patients (2.5%) had near-normal biochemical tests despite the presence of massive tumors. Diagnostic yield from angiography, percutaneous peritoneoscopic biopsy, or scintiscanning was 87-98%. Three percent of the patients had resectable tumors. Median survival for patients with untreated disease was 3.5 weeks. Apart from histology, the total serum bilirubin level was the only factor of prognostic value. Only 12 patients had preexisting symptomatic cirrhosis. When compared with 80 patients with symptomatic postnecrotic cirrhosis without malignancy, patients with HCC had higher SGOT:SGPT ratio, Higher serum albumin levels, and higher platelet counts. There was only minimal overlap of patients with symptomatic postnecrotic cirrhosis and those with HCC. The authors conclude that their patients with HCC appeared late for treatment. A probable difference in the development of symptomatic postnecrotic cirrhosis and of HCC with asymptomatic postnecrotic cirrhosis is suggested.
Lai et al. (1981) studied this question.