Thirteen patients with primary hepatocellular carcinoma less than 5 cm in size were seen in our clinic during the past four years. Clinical data of these patients were evaluated to clarify the clinical significance of minute hepatocellular carcinoma. Eleven of these patients were male, and average age was 58 years old. Of these patients, ten (77%) were complicated by liver cirrhosis, and only one revealed positive HBs antigen in serum. The serum alpha-fetoprotein level showed more than 400 ng/ml in five patients (38%). And we thinked that ultrasonographic examinations were most effective to diagnose minute hepatocellular carcinoma in various diagnostic imaging methods.
Most of patients exhibited a decreased functional reserve in the liver, but seven patients underwent hepatic resection. After operation, one patient died of acute hepatic insufficiency on the 8th day, and one died of the recurrence of tumor on the llth month. Other five patients have been alive now.
It is suggested that the survival time of patients with minute hepatocellular carcinoma is fairly influenced by the condition of accompanied liver cirrhosis
