title: An unusual case, in Italy, of hepatocarcinoma characterized by portal hypertension and absence of cirrhosis.
abstract: We report a case of a 40-year-old man of Bantu origin, affected by both HBV infection and primitive hepatocarcinoma in the absence of cirrhosis. The fine-needle aspiration specimen reported a rare variant of liver cancer resembling an adenocarcinoma. The neoplasm was certainly a hepatic primitive carcinoma, because chest X-ray, cranial computed tomography, colonoscopy, and abdominal computed tomography did not detect neoplastic lesions and alpha-fetoprotein was > 1000 ng/mL. The present neoplasm, characterized by severe portal hypertension and absence of cirrhosis, is rare in Italy, but largely diffused in Bantu people in Africa.
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, Catholic University of Rome, Italy. rnocente@libero.it
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Nocente
authors.forename: N G
authors.initials: NG
authors.lastname: Silveri
authors.forename: F M
authors.initials: FM
authors.lastname: Vecchio
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Gasbarrini
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D006528:Carcinoma, Hepatocellular / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D006498:Hepatectomy; D019694:Hepatitis B, Chronic / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery; D006801:Humans; D006975:Hypertension, Portal / Q000209:etiology* / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery; D007558:Italy; D008099:Liver / Q000473:pathology; D008103:Liver Cirrhosis / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery; D008113:Liver Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery; D008297:Male; D014454:Uganda / Q000208:ethnology; D014463:Ultrasonography