Primary and metastatic tumors of the liver associated with cirrhosis. A study based on laparoscopy and autopsy

In a series of 2,538 cases of cirrhosis seen at laparoscopy there were 140 primary liver carcinomas and 19 cases of metastases to a cirrhotic liver out of a total of 167 extrahepatic neoplasms associated with cirrhosis. In an autopsy series of 1,073 cases of cirrhosis there were 190 primary liver carcinomas and 22 cases of metastases to a cirrhotic liver out of a total of 98 extrahepatic neoplasms. In another autopsy series of 498 cases of cirrhosis there were 71 primary liver carcinomas and 18 cases of metastases to a cirrhotic liver out of a total of 58 extrahepatic neoplasms. The laparoscopy series showed a predominance (31.8%) of esophageal tumors associated with cirrhosis, but these tumors rarely gave rise to liver metastases (3.7%); in the autopsy series there was a predominance (35.3%) of tumors of the portal territory, giving rise to metastases in cirrhotic livers in 35.2% of cases.