From June 1981 to June 1989 we diagnosed 174 cases of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) at our institution (Piacenza, Northern Italy). Average age was 65.6 years; male to female ratio 3.4. 149 patients were cirrhotic (85.6%); alcohol abuse was present in 88/169 (52.1%); in 53/145 patients all hepatitis B virus markers were negative. Alpha-fetoprotein showed a low diagnostic sensitivity (values above 500 ng only in 49/169 or 29.0%). We used ultrasound (US) examination with a very high identification rate in all cases; pathological diagnosis was achieved by US guided fine-needle aspiration biopsy in 135 patients; in 13, by laparoscopy-histology. Metastases were found in 24/169 cases (14.2%); a second malignancy was diagnosed in 13/169 (7.7%): the most common association was HCC-non-Hodgkin lymphoma. Only 14 patients could be referred to surgery, which significantly improved prognosis.