[A case of HBs antigen negative hepatocellular carcinoma without liver cirrhosis in a young woman]

Abstract

A 27-year-old woman, post parturition, was admitted to hospital because of epigastric pain. Ultrasonography and abdominal computerized tomography revealed a giant mass in the left lobe of the liver. Celiac angiography showed a hypervascular mass with irregular vascularity. Serum HBs antigen proved negative. A left hepatic lobectomy was performed in March, 1985. Histology of the tumor revealed the trabecular type of a hepatocellular carcinoma with Edmondson grade 2 atypism, whereas the non-cancerous region of the liver showed chronic inactive hepatitis. This case is presented, because of the rarity of a hepatocellular carcinoma developing in such a young patient. In addition, reported cases of a hepatocellular carcinoma in the young in Japan are reviewed.