Abstract

Dr. Abdul Qayum*, Dr. Inam Ur Rehman, Dr. Zahra Imran

ABSTRACT

Background: According to American institute of cancer research, Hepatocellular Carcinoma is the 6th most common cancer in the world and 4th most common cause of death due to cancer due to cancer. Hepatocellular Carcinoma is one of the complication of liver cirrhosis resulting mainly due to chronic infection by Hepatitis B Virus, Hepatitis C Virus and excessive alcohol consumption. Its incidence is increasing in Pakistan and might represent the most common cancer in adult males. Objective: Purpose of this study is to determine the frequency of hepatocellular carcinoma in patient with liver cirrhosis. Methodology: It was a cross sectional study, conducted at Oncology department, Nishtar Hospital Multan for duration of 6 months from August 2016 to January 2018. We enrolled 55 patients with liver cirrhosis from either gender with age ranges from 35 to 75 years. A detailed history, examination, relevant laboratory investigation i.e. CBC, LFTs, PT, aPTT, serum AFP, viral markers, ascetic fluid examination etc., and ultrasonography was performed on every selected patients. The diagnosis of liver cirrhosis was made on the basis of shrunken liver, with or without associated portal hypertension and ascites. The child pugh class was assessed by detailed clinical examination, USG and liver function tests. Patient having mass lesion on USG in liver with serum alpha fetoprotein level more than 200ng/ml was labelled as case of Hepatocellular carcinoma. In some patients HCC was further confirmed through triphasic CT scan. Data was analyzed by using SPSS version 20. Results: We evaluated 55 patients of liver cirrhosis with mean age of 50.80±13.11 years. There were 33 (60%) males and 22 (40%) females. HCC was seen in 7 (12.7%) out of 55 patients. HCC was significantly high in males where it was seen in 5 (9.09%) of patients with p= 0.04. We observed that the ratio of HCC was high in patients with age above 50 years. Hepatocellular carcinoma was mostly associated with patient having child pugh class C. Conclusion: We concluded that Hepatocellular Carcinoma was significantly high in males with age above 50 years and fall in child pugh class C.