title: Hepatocellular carcinoma in young adults.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is uncommon in adolescent and young adult Japanese. The aim of this study was to examine the clinicopathological analysis of Japanese young adults with HCC.
  
  
  METHODS
  We reviewed the cases of 11 patients with HCC who were between 13 and 40 years of age.
  
  
  RESULTS
  All patients were HBs antigen-positive patients, and most of them had relatively good liver function. Eight patients (72.7%) had abdominal pain directly caused by advanced tumors. Most patients had highly advanced HCC; 9 patients (81.8%) had tumors larger than 10cm in diameter, and all had portal invasion. Nine patients had intrahepatic tumor dissemination. Among 8 patients who underwent hepatectomy 6 survived more than 1 year, and 1 patient has been alive 71 months without disease. The other 3 patients, whose tumors could not be resected, died within 5 months of diagnosis.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These results suggest that cases of HCC in young adults are rarely detected early because of their relatively good liver function despite their higher positive rate for HBs antigen. Therefore, early screening for cancer is particularly important in young adults who are HBs antigen-positive.
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery I, Oita Medical University, Japan.
authors.forename: Masanori
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Aramaki
authors.forename: Katsunori
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kawano
authors.forename: Atsushi
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Sasaki
authors.forename: Tsuyoshi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Ohno
authors.forename: Koichiro
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Tahara
authors.forename: Seiichiro
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kai
authors.forename: Yukio
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Iwashita
authors.forename: Seigo
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kitano
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D017677:Age Distribution; D006528:Carcinoma, Hepatocellular / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000473:pathology* / Q000601:surgery; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006498:Hepatectomy / Q000379:methods; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D007564:Japan / Q000453:epidemiology; D008111:Liver Function Tests; D008113:Liver Neoplasms / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000473:pathology* / Q000601:surgery; D008297:Male; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D011379:Prognosis; D018570:Risk Assessment; D017678:Sex Distribution; D016019:Survival Analysis; D013997:Time Factors