Clinicopathological characteristics of hepatocellular carcinoma bearing Mallory bodies: an autopsy study

Mallory bodies are known to occur in hepatocellular carcinoma. The simple question whether or not there are any clinicopathological features characterizing Mallory body-positive hepatocellular carcinoma remains unresolved to date. The present study of 200 consecutive autopsy cases of hepatocellular carcinoma showed several important differences between 49 cases bearing Mallory bodies and 151 cases bearing no Mallory bodies in carcinoma cells. The patients in the former group were older, showed a higher association rate of liver cirrhosis, and their liver weight was lighter. As to the gross pathology of hepatocellular carcinoma, the nodular type was relatively frequent in Mallory body-positive hepatocellular carcinoma, while the massive and diffuse types were relatively frequent in Mallory body-negative cases. The frequency of extrahepatic metastases in the Mallory body-positive group was lower than that in the Mallory body-negative cases. The reasons for these differences remain speculative.