Liver cell carcinoma during the prime of life

During a 23 year period at Memorial Hospital, the diagnosis of liver cell carcinoma was made in 42 patients who were 11 to 40 years old. Ninety per cent were Caucasian, mostly born in the United states. No occupational hazard was detected. Serum hepatitis antigen was demonstrated in only one patient. Alpha fetoprotein was found in the serum of 55 per cent of nine patients tested. Eight-three per cent were Rh positive, 43 per cent were ABO groups, A or O, respectively. Twenty-three per cent of 13 patients with sufficient material for study had an associated cirrhosis. Of these, active hepatitis with cirrhosis was present in one patient; postnecrotic cirrhosis was present in another. Approximately 7 per cent had a history of previous liver disease. One patient had infectious mononucleosis, and nearly 13 per cent gave a family history of cancer. Weight loss or pain in the right upper abdominal quadrant was present in 65 per cent, and hepatomegaly was found in 88 per cent. Only one patient presented with hemoperitoneum simulating an acute condition within abdomen. The liver profile examinations characteristically revealed an elevation in serum alkaline phosphatase, 5 nucleotidase, and Bromsulphalein retention with normal bilirubin level. The most common finding, upon roentgenographic examination, was an elevated right hemidiaphragm. Selective celiac and superior mesenteric angiography and 99mTc sulfur colloid liver scans were both done in 13 patients. There was a 75 per cent accuracy rate in localization of the tumor. At laparotomy, the tumor was found to be confined to one lobe in seven patients and involved both lobes in ten. Twenty-seven patients were thought to have multicentric tumors and 15 unicentric lesions. Only ten were found to be candidates for hepatic lobectomy. Five and ten years survival rates were 20 per cent; the operative mortality rate was 40 per cent. Twenty per cent died within a year, ten per cent, one patient, is alive with disease at 28 months and another is free of disease at 31-months. Paraneoplastic syndromes were erythrocytosis in two patients, terminal stage of hypoglycemia in one patient, and hypocholesterolemia with associated excess beta globulin in one patient.