A case of well-differentiated hepatocellular carcinoma arising in primary biliary cirrhosis

Primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC) is a chronic progressive, autoimmune liver disease that increases the risk of hepatobiliary malignancies at a late stage. We report a 66-year-old woman with PBC combined with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) accompanied by hypoglycemia. Two large tumors were detected on admission and the patient died because of tumor rupture and subsequent liver failure. Histological analysis revealed well-differentiated HCC in both of the tumors. Sometimes the patient had suffered from hypoglycemic attacks of unknown origin, but serum immunoreactive insulin (IRI) was within the normal range. It was interesting that such large well-differentiated hepatocellular carcinomas were generated in PBC.