TITLE:
Epidemiologic and Clinicopathologic Features of Advanced Hepatocellular Carcinoma
AUTHORS:
Maha L. Zamzam
KEYWORDS:
Hepatocellular Carcinoma, Epidemiologic, Clinicopathologic Survival
JOURNAL NAME:
Journal of Cancer Therapy,
Vol.10 No.6,
June
4,
2019
ABSTRACT: Background: Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is one of the most
common malignant tumors worldwide as well as in Egypt where it constitutes a
significant public health problem. HCC is the third most common cause of death
from cancer and chronic infection with HBV and HCV are the most important
precursors for HCC development. Objective: To study the epidemiologic, clinical and pathological features of
advanced HCC in clinical oncology and Nuclear medicine department, Suez Canal
University hospital. Method: This
is a retrospective study done to analyse the clinical, demographic and
pathological data of advanced HCC patients that attended clinical oncology and
Nuclear Medicine Department, Suez Canal University Hospital in the period
between January 2013 and December 2016. Results: Results
revealed that mean age of the patients was 60.2 ± 7.69, 71.74% male and 28.26% Female, 91.3% were HCV
positive while 6.5% were HBV positive. Liver cirrhosis was in 89.13% of
patients. Majority of the patients (78.2%) were child Pugh Score B and 21.7%
were child Pugh Score C. 67.39% of patients had diabetes. Portal vein
thrombosis was present in 50% of cases. Alpha fetoprotein was elevated >400
in 56.52% of cases. Thirty four patients received treatment in the form of
chemotherapy while 12 patients did not receive treatment. There is a highly
significant increase in survival time P 0.001
in treated group compared to untreated group. Median survival time (in months)
was five months in the treated group versus one month in the untreated group. Conclusion: HCC is one of
the increasing major health problems in both developing and developed countries. The most important risk
factor is cirrhosis which is
mainly due to HCV infection. Thus, much effort should be put into the field of
prevention and treatment of viral hepatitis infections and chronic liver
disease. Screening programs should be done to get rid of the problem, and most
importantly, there must be an acceptable and effective therapy for HCC.