抄録
A 54 year old male was admitted to Hamanomachi Hospital complaining of discomfort in the right upper quadrant of the abdomen in Aug., 1978. A diagnosis of hepatic tumor was made by scintigram and angiography. Chest X-ray taken in September revealed an ill-defined mass density in the left hilar region. His general conditions became steadily worse and he expired on October 25, 1978. Autopsy confirmed hepatocellular carcinoma and its metastasis to the left lung. Tumor cells were present in the bronchial lumen microscopically. The sputum was collected for cytology three weeks prior to his death.
The characteristics of these tumor cells in sputum were presented, i. e. considerable variation in size and shape, a fairely large N/C ratio, trend of multinucleation, etc.
Cytology of hepatocellular carcinoma has been reported regarding ascitic fluid and aspiration smears of the liver. They unanimously pointed out the presence of prominent nucleoli, whereas in our case, nucleoli were not clearly seen.
