Epidemiologic and Clinicopathologic Features of Advanced Hepatocellular Carcinoma

Abstract

Background: Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is one of the most common malignant tumors worldwide as well as in Egypt where it constitutes a significant public health problem. HCC is the third most common cause of death from cancer and chronic infection with HBV and HCV are the most important precursors for HCC development. Objective: To study the epidemiologic, clinical and pathological features of advanced HCC in clinical oncology and Nuclear medicine department, Suez Canal University hospital. Method: This is a retrospective study done to analyse the clinical, demographic and pathological data of advanced HCC patients that attended clinical oncology and Nuclear Medicine Department, Suez Canal University Hospital in the period between January 2013 and December 2016. Results: Results revealed that mean age of the patients was 60.2 ± 7.69, 71.74% male and 28.26% Female, 91.3% were HCV positive while 6.5% were HBV positive. Liver cirrhosis was in 89.13% of patients. Majority of the patients (78.2%) were child Pugh Score B and 21.7% were child Pugh Score C. 67.39% of patients had diabetes. Portal vein thrombosis was present in 50% of cases. Alpha fetoprotein was elevated >400 in 56.52% of cases. Thirty four patients received treatment in the form of chemotherapy while 12 patients did not receive treatment. There is a highly significant increase in survival time P < 0.001 in treated group compared to untreated group. Median survival time (in months) was five months in the treated group versus one month in the untreated group. Conclusion: HCC is one of the increasing major health problems in both developing and developed countries. The most important risk factor is cirrhosis which is mainly due to HCV infection. Thus, much effort should be put into the field of prevention and treatment of viral hepatitis infections and chronic liver disease. Screening programs should be done to get rid of the problem, and most importantly, there must be an acceptable and effective therapy for HCC.