ABSTRACT
Background: Hepatocellular carcinoma is the most frequent primary tumor of the liver. It is associated to chronic liver diseases and has a high prevalence in some regions of Africa and Asia. Aim: To describe the clinical characteristics of patients with hepatocellular carcinoma, admitted to two hospitals of the IX region of southern Chile. Material and methods: Prospective study of 29 consecutive patients admitted to two hospitals in Temuco, Chile. Clinical features, laboratory values and viral markers were analyzed. Results: Eighteen patients were male and ages ranged from 29 to 75 years old. The most frequent presenting symptom was abdominal pain in 21 patients. Seven subjects had a history of alcoholism. Serum bilirubin values ranged from 0.1 to 15.8 mg/dl, alkaline phosphatases ranged from 171 to 3476 U/l, ASAT from 24 to 5400 U/l and alpha feto protein from 1.4 to 350 ng/ml. Two patients had a positive hepatitis B surface antigen and all had negative hepatitis C virus antibodies. Mean tumoral diameter was 9.6 cm and the most common presentation was nodular. Mean survival after the diagnosis was 6.3 months. Conclusions: These patients with hepatocellular carcinoma have a low frequency of positive viral markers and tumors of large sizes on presentation