We analyzed the clinicopathological factors influencing the serum AFP levels at the time of diagnosis in 114 patients with resected HCC. The proportion of HCC patients with high serum AFP levels (> 100 ng/ml) has been steadily decreasing from a rate of 57.2% in 1980 to 33.3% in 1993. A significant relationship was noted between the serum AFP levels and the virus marker (p < 0.01) based on a multivariate analysis. The proportion of HCC patients with high serum AFP levels was significantly less in anti-HCV- positive HCC patients than in HBsAg-positive HCC patients (p < 0.01). The proportion of HBsAg-positive HCC patients has been steadily decreasing from a rate of 48% in 1980 to 15% in 1993. In contrast, the proportion of anti-HCV-positive HCC patients was 69% in 1993. It is thus assumed that the prevalence of anti-HCV-positive HCC patients is increasing recently, based on the fact that the incidence of HCC patients with high serum AFP levels is decreasing.