Etiology of hepatocellular carcinoma influences clinical and pathologic features but not patient survival.
OBJECTIVE
We investigated the relation between hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) etiology and biological and clinical parameters indicative of severity of liver disease and/or tumor characteristics and patient survival.


METHODS
We prospectively recruited 384 patients (82.3% male) with first diagnosis of HCC from 1995 to 1998 in Brescia, Italy. Etiology was assessed by interviewing patients regarding their history of alcohol intake and by testing sera for hepatitis B surface antigen and anti-hepatitis C virus (HCV) antibodies and HCV RNA.


RESULTS
Heavy alcohol intake (>60 g of ethanol per day for at least 1 decade) was found in 33.1% of cases, hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection in 9.4%, HCV in 19.8%, hemochromatosis in 1.3%, alcohol and HBV in 12.0%, alcohol and HCV in 16.1%, HBV and HCV in 3.1%, and no factor in 5.2%. Patients with HBV infection with or without heavy alcohol intake were significantly younger than the others (61.7 vs 64.7 yr, p < 0.001). The proportion of males was significantly higher in patients with heavy alcohol intake alone than in the other patient groups (93.7% vs 77.3%, p < 0.001). Among patients with HCV infection with or without heavy alcohol intake, fewer patients had maximum tumor diameter > 5 cm than the others (12% vs 29.1%, p < 0.001). Eighty patients (20.8%) were alive at the end of follow-up (median survival, 17.7 months), and no differences were observed in survival rates by HCC risk factor.


CONCLUSIONS
Although some differences were observed in severity of liver disease or tumor characteristics according to etiology, patient survival was not influenced by HCC etiology.
Gelatti
Umberto
U
Cattedra di IgieneUniversità di Brescia, Brescia, Italy.
Donato
Francesco
F
Tagger
Alessandro
A
Fantoni
Cristina
C
Portolani
Nazario
N
Ribero
Maria Lisa
ML
Martelli
Claudia
C
Trevisi
Paola
P
Covolo
Loredana
L
Simonati
Cristina
C
Nardi
Giuseppe
G
D000368:Aged; D006528:Carcinoma, Hepatocellular / Q000209:etiology* / Q000401:mortality* / Q000473:pathology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008113:Liver Neoplasms / Q000209:etiology* / Q000401:mortality* / Q000473:pathology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D017063:Outcome Assessment, Health Care; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D016016:Proportional Hazards Models; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D015996:Survival Rate