Background & aims: Nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) can progress to hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). We aimed to characterize the clinical features of NASH patients with HCC.
Methods: In a cross-sectional multicenter study in Japan, we examined 87 patients (median age, 72 years; 62% male) with histologically proven NASH who developed HCC. The clinical data were collected at the time HCC was diagnosed.
Results: Obesity (body mass index ≥25 kg/m(2)), diabetes, dyslipidemia, and hypertension were present in 54 (62%), 51 (59%), 24 (28%), and 47 (55%) patients, respectively. In nontumor liver tissues, the degree of fibrosis was stage 1 in 10 patients (11%), stage 2 in 15 (17%), stage 3 in 18 (21%), and stage 4 (ie, liver cirrhosis) in 44 (51%). The prevalence of cirrhosis was significantly lower among male patients (21 of 54, 39%) compared with female patients (23 of 33, 70%) (P = .008).
Conclusions: Most patients with NASH who develop HCC are men; the patients have high rates of obesity, diabetes, and hypertension. Male patients appear to develop HCC at a less advanced stage of liver fibrosis than female patients.
Copyright © 2011 AGA Institute. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.