PATHOLOGIC STUDY OF THE HEPATOCELLULAR CARCINOMA AFTER CHEMOEMBOLIZATION

Pathologic features of 15 patients with a distinctive histologic variant of hepatocellular carcinoma after hepatic arterial chemoembolization are summarized. The patients age ranged from 25 to 72 years. 13 were men and 2 women. The distinctive histologic features may be ascribed to: (1) The vascular changes were endothelial proliferation, marked thickening of wall, hyalinization or occlusion of the lumen in the tumor region; (2) Massive coagulative necrosis of cancerous tissue already occurred 3 days after chemoembolization. The periphery of necrotic tttmor tissue usually was associated with inflammatory cell infiltration or foamy histocyte accumulation; (3) Abundant fibrous stroma or fibrosis were found between the neoplastic hepatocytes: (4) The encapsulation was found outside in carcerous mass; (5) The calcification and ossification occurred in some cases. In addition, we also discussed the correlation between histological morphology of hepatocellular carcinoma after chemoembolization and prognosis.