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Hepatocellular carcinoma in Japanese patients with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease, alcoholic liver disease, and chronic liver disease of unknown etiology: report of the nationwide survey

  • Original Article—Liver, Pancreas, and Biliary Tract
  • Published:
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Abstract

Purpose

To clarify the etiology of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) in Japanese patients with non-viral liver disease, we performed a nationwide survey. The influence of obesity, lifestyle-related diseases, and alcohol consumption was focused on.

Methods

A nationwide survey of 14,530 HCC patients was conducted in 2009. Clinical features were studied for HCC patients with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD-HCC; n = 292), alcoholic liver disease (ALC-HCC; n = 991), and chronic liver disease of unknown etiology (unknown HCC; n = 614). The unknown HCC was divided into two subgroups, a no alcohol intake group and a modest alcohol intake group.

Results

ALC-HCC accounted for 7.2% of all HCC, followed by unknown HCC (5.1%) and NAFLD-HCC (2.0%). The characteristics of these three groups were clearly different (median age was 72 years for NAFLD-HCC, 68 years for ALC-HCC, and 73 years for unknown HCC, p < 0.01; female gender was 38, 4, and 37%, respectively, p < 0.01). Obesity and lifestyle-related diseases were significantly more frequent in NAFLD-HCC than in ALC-HCC and unknown HCC. The no alcohol intake subgroup of unknown HCC showed female predominance (58%) and was older, without a high prevalence of obesity and lifestyle-related diseases. In contrast, the modest alcohol intake subgroup showed the same trends regarding gender, body mass index, prevalence of lifestyle-related diseases, and liver function as the ALC-HCC group.

Conclusions

The clinical features of ALC-HCC, NAFLD-HCC, and unknown HCC were clearly different. Modest intake of alcohol might have a more significant role in hepatic carcinogenesis than is presently thought.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported in part by a grant-in aid from the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare of Japan.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Internal Medicine and Gastroenterology, Tokyo Women’s Medical University, 8-1 Kawada-cho, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo, 162-8666, Japan

    Katsutoshi Tokushige, Etsuko Hashimoto & Makiko Taniai

  2. Department of Internal Medicine, International University of Health and Welfare, Sanno Hospital, Tokyo, Japan

    Yoshinori Horie

  3. National Hospital Organization Kurihama Alcoholism Center, Yokosuka, Kanagawa, Japan

    Susumu Higuchi

Authors
  1. Katsutoshi Tokushige
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  2. Etsuko Hashimoto
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  3. Yoshinori Horie
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  4. Makiko Taniai
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  5. Susumu Higuchi
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Etsuko Hashimoto.

Additional information

We wish to dedicate this paper to the memory of Dr. Hiromasa Ishii, who passed away on May 31, 2010, while we were writing this manuscript after finishing research that was supported by grants from the Japanese Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare between 2007 and 2009. He was the chief researcher for grants and we know how much he meant to our group as a fine leader.

Appendix

Appendix

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Tokushige, K., Hashimoto, E., Horie, Y. et al. Hepatocellular carcinoma in Japanese patients with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease, alcoholic liver disease, and chronic liver disease of unknown etiology: report of the nationwide survey. J Gastroenterol 46, 1230–1237 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00535-011-0431-9

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