[Pathomorphologic characteristics of small liver cancer in the early stage and the basic pathologic features of...

Thanks to the remarkable advances in diagnostic and therapeutic procedures of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), it is not uncommon to encounter small liver cancers of less than one centimeter in diameter. Many such small liver cancers in the early stage consist mostly of highly differentiated HCC, and it is often difficult to diagnose them with conventional pathomorphologic knowledge based on the study of advanced HCC. In the present paper, the pathomorphologic characteristics of small liver cancer in the early stage are described along with the basic pathologic features of HCC.