A comparison of hepatocellular carcinoma associated with HBV or HCV infection

BACKGROUND/AIMS: Close relationships between hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and hepatitis virus infection have been elucidated, However, clinical diff erences between HBV- and HCV-associated HCC remain unclear. METHODOLOGY: Four hundred and sixteen patients with HCC were examined for b oth HBsAg and HCV-Ab. Sixty-nine of the 416 patients (16.6%) were positive for HBsAg and negative for HCV-Ab (B-HCC), while 290 patients (69.7%) were negative for HBsAg and positive for HCV-Ab (C-HCC). Various comparisons wer e made between the 2 groups. RESULTS: B-HCC patients were younger in age (p<0.0001),and had significantl y better liver function than C-HCC patients. The motivation of HCC detectio n was different between the 2 groups (p<0.0001), and the tumor size of B-HC C was significantly larger when comparing groups with regard to symptoms (p <0.05). Although B-HCC demonstrated better survival in Stage I/II treated b y surgery (p<0.05), it was associated with poorer survival in Stage III/IV receiving hepatic arterial infusion chemotherapy when compared to C-HCC (p< 0.01). CONCLUSIONS: These results suggest that clinical differences between B-WCC and C-HCC may depend upon the difference of the natural course between I-IB V and HCV infection, and B-HCC may be more resistant to treatment than C-HC C in the advanced stage. This also illustrates the need for early tumor det ection in B-HCC.