| [ Summary ] |
Along with remarkable advances in the early diagnosis of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), it has been suggested that adenomatous hyperplasia seen in liver cirrhosis is a potentially premalignant lesion of HCC. The presence of atypical adenomatous hyperplasia, which is characterized by an equivocal increase in cellularity with increased irregularityof the cord structure and adenomatous hyperplasia containing the foci of well-differentiated HCC supports the above presumption. Although atypical adenomatous hyperplasia could be regarded as a borderline lesion, many adenomatous hyperplasias containing cancerous foci might be interpreted as well-differentiated HCC overall. In addition, most adenomatous hyperplasias with fatty change are difficult to differentiate from well-differentiated HCC with fatty change and they should be treated as a malignant lesion clinically. |