A Resected Case of Hepatocellular Carcinoma Associated with Autoimmune Hepatitis

We report a case with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) in association with autoimmune hepatitis (AIH). A-66-year-old woman, diagnosed as having AIH in April 1988, was under regular treatment with prednisolone. In January 1999, she was admitted to our hospital with elevation of the serum α-fetoprotein (AFP) level and a mass lesion in the S8 region of the liver detected by ultrasonography. She had no history of blood transfusion or drinking. Hepatitis B virus and hepatitis C virus markers were negative, and serum antinuclear antibody was positive. Imaging studies indicated that the mass lesion was a HCC, and in March 1999, hepatic subsegmentectomy (S8) was perfomed. The operation was a curative resection. The tumor, 3.3×3.0cm in diameter, was diagnosed histologically as a HCC of Edmondson type II>III. Reports of resection of HCC in cases with AIH have been rare, because of the advanced stage of the cancer at diagnosis. Hence, determination of the serum levels of tumor markers and imaging studies should be perfomed regularly in these patients.