[Clinical features of hepatocellular carcinoma in the 1990s].
OBJECTIVE
There has been a shift of the etiologies of chronic liver disease in the 1990s. Therefore, we studied clinical characteristics of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) in the 90s.


METHODS
Medical records of 806 patients diagnosed as having primary HCC were reviewed. Etiology, clinical and laboratory characteristics were evaluated according to the time of diagnosis (the early period, 1992-1995; the late period, 1996-2000).


RESULTS
The mean age was 55.7 years and male to female ratio was 4.6:1. The proportion of the symptomatic patients at the time of diagnosis was decreased from 67.4% of the early period to 41.3% of the late period. On the other hand, that of the patients detected by a periodic check-up was increased up to 58.7% in the late period from 32.6% in the early period (p<0.01). The majority of the patients accompanied cirrhosis (73.3%) and the main cause of HCC was HBV (78.6%) with no changes in the etiologic distribution according to the periods. The proportion of the candidates for surgical resection was significantly increased to 12.4% in the late period compared with 7.1% in the early period.


CONCLUSIONS
Although the proportion of HCC which can be treated curatively has increased in the later half of the 1990s, its absolute number is still small. More meticulous periodic examination may be required in high risk patients.
Jung
Sung Hoon
SH
Department of Internal Medicine, Kyung Hee University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
Kim
Byung-Ho
BH
Joung
Young Hee
YH
Han
Yo Seb
YS
Lee
Byung Ho
BH
Dong
Seok Ho
SH
Kim
Hyo Jong
HJ
Chang
Young Woon
YW
Lee
Joung Il
JI
Chang
Rin
R
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D006528:Carcinoma, Hepatocellular / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007723:Korea / Q000453:epidemiology; D008113:Liver Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015995:Prevalence