[A comparative study of HBV-associated liver diseases between Korea and western part of Japan]

Overall positive rate of HBsAg in both serum and liver tissue was the highest in Pusan, followed by Kitakyushu and Osaka. HBsAg positive rate among patients with liver cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) was higher in Pusan than in Kitakyushu. Primary liver cancers, most of which were HCCs, were more frequently (3.4%) found in all inpatients of Kosin University, Pusan, than in those of UOEH (Kitakyushu), 1.9%. HCCs in Pusan were younger, less associated with cirrhosis and rather poorly differentiated than those in Kitakyushu and Osaka, Japan, and they might be related to a higher rate of HBsAg carriers in the former.