Abstract

DOMINGUEZ, Marlene et al. Clinical and epidemiological aspects of patients with hepatocellular carcinoma in two reference centers Venezuela. Gen [online]. 2013, vol.67, n.2, pp.66-70. ISSN 0016-3503.

Introduction: The hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the main primary liver neoplasia and is a public health problem in the world due to high prevalence and mortality. Objetive: Evaluate clinical and epidemiological characteristics in patients with Hepatocellular carcinoma. Methods: A retrospective analysis of a prospectively maintained database of 116 patients with diagnosis of HCC in two centers of Caracas between 1997 and 2011 was conducted. We evaluated epidemiological, clinical, biochemical and tumor aspects according to Barcelona Clínic Liver Cancer in patients with HCC. Results: Mean age was 61.34 ± 12.02 years, 75% were male and 89.7% of patients had liver cirrhosis. Portal hypertension complications (ascites, hepatic encephalopathy, esophageal varices) were present in 70.7% of patients. Hepatitis C virus (HCV) was the main etiology of hepatic disease (31%) followed by alcohol (21.6%), hepatitis B virus (14.7%) and non alcoholic steatohepatitis (14.7%). HCC was more frequent in patients with cirrhosis associated to HBV infection. The 56% of patients had alpha-fetoprotein levels higher than 300 ng/ml. The 64.7% of tumors were localized in the right lobe of liver and 79.3% of tumor lesions demonstrated typical pattern in radiologic studies. The most patients had advanced disease according to Barcelona Clinic Liver Cancer (BCLC) staging classification (Stage C, 37.9%; stage D, 25.9%; stage B, 24.1%; stage A, 7.8% and stage 0, 2.6%). Conclusions: HCV infection was main cause of cirrhosis in patients with HCC, but HBV infection had higher impact in these patients. Our study showed that the diagnosis of these patients undergo late and is very important intensify screening measures in patients with liver cirrhosis.

Keywords : Hepatocellular carcinoma; epidemiology; Barcelona Clínic Liver Cancer stages; hepatitis C virus (HCV); hepatitis B virus; liver cirrh.

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