[The pathological feature of primary hepatic carcinoma on explanted liver and its significance].
OBJECTIVE
To investigate the pathological feature of primary hepatic carcinoma and the clinical significance.


METHODS
From August 2000 to December 2007, there were 89 patients with cirrhosis and carcinoma of liver who accepted whole liver resection. The whole liver was cut into 10 mm slices to examine the tumor size, number, distribution, capsule, satellite nodes, portal vein tumor thrombi (PVTT). The invaded adjacent tissue and lymph nodes were recorded, the distance from satellite to major tumor was measured, then histological examinations were carried out, and the final diagnosis was made by pathologists.


RESULTS
The total of 89 cases included hepatocellular carcinoma in 86 cases and cholangiocarcinoma in 3 cases; 53 cases with multiple tumors and 36 cases with solitary tumor; complete capsule only in 14 cases, no obvious margin in 11 cases, 13 cases had a major tumor in the right lobe and a small tumor in the left lobe; 8 of 25 cases with gross invaded tissue were confirmed by histological examination, 7 of 16 cases with swollen lymph nodes were infiltrated by cancer cells. There were 47 cases with PVTT (47.2%) and 39 cases with satellite nodes (43.8%). PVTT and satellite nodes increased with the increase of sizes and the numbers of the tumors. The distance from satellite node to major tumor mostly were 0.5 - 3.0 cm.


CONCLUSIONS
The whole explanted liver can completely reflect the characteristics of growth and infiltration of hepatic carcinoma. Attention must be paid to the small cancer lesions in another lobe, distal satellite nodes from major tumor, and tumor thrombi in a small branch of portal vein, which can not be found by imaging, and might influence the curative effectiveness after liver resection or transplantation.
Department of Surgery, Peking University Third Hospital, Beijing 100191, China. tonglin.zhang@x263.net
Tong-Lin
TL
Zhang
Shao-Hua
SH
Ma
Dian-Rong
DR
Xiu
Shi-Bing
SB
Song
Chun-Hui
CH
Yuan
Yi-Mu
YM
Jia
En-Cong
EC
Gong
D000328:Adult; D006528:Carcinoma, Hepatocellular / Q000473:pathology* / Q000601:surgery; D005260:Female; D006498:Hepatectomy; D006801:Humans; D008099:Liver / Q000473:pathology; D008113:Liver Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology* / Q000601:surgery; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D055815:Young Adult