A minute hepatocellular carcinoma coincided with adenomatous hyperplasia with appearance of nodule in nodule

An autopsy case report

Abstract

The case reported here was a 72-year-old female who had been treated under a diagnosis of liver cirrhosis associated with minute hepatocellular carcinoma and died from hepatic failure. The liver weighed 610g and was atrophic with cirrhotic appearance.
The cut-surface showed four small nodule, measuring 0.7 to 2.5cm in diameter.
Two of them were hepatocellular carcinoma of Edmondson's grade II. The other two nodules were diagnosed as adenomatous hyperplasia and had foci of hepatocellular carcinoma within the nodules (nodule in nodule).
These two types of hepatocellular carcinoma showed different morphology and a stainingpattern of a-fetoprotein.
We reported the present case because such findings as described above may give some suggestions to multicentric origin of hepatocellular carcinoma.