[Cytological criteria for human hepatic cirrhosis-cancer and hepatic cirrhosis]

Trepan biopsy specimens were studied in 12 patients with hepatic cirrhosis-cancer and in 22 patients with hepatic cirrhosis. Blood antibodies to hepatitis C virus (HCV) or HBsAg were detected in 50% of the patients with hepatic cirrhosis-cancer and in 18.1% of those with hepatic cirrhosis. Polymerase chain reaction detection of HCV DNA in the cells of trepan biopsy specimens suggests its role in the pathogenesis of hepatic cirrhosis and hepatic cirrhosis-cancer. The cytological criteria for hepatic cirrhosis-cancer, unlike hepatic cirrhosis, are that the cytological specimen shows a preponderance of atypical hepatocytes with hyperchromic angular nuclei occupying the bulk of a cell, as well as mitoses in them.