Background/aims: 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.