Outcomes of small nodular lesions in heavy drinkers.

Background: Increased detection of nodular lesions in patients not yet definitively diagnosed with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) has occurred with the use of advanced imaging techniques. In heavy drinkers, decrease in the size of nodular lesions during on-going observation, and negation of diagnoses of HCC after surgical resection have been reported, suggesting the need for caution in diagnosis in such cases.

Methods: The subjects were eight heavy drinkers with small nodular lesions, 20 mm or less in diameter.

A case of complete necrosis of well-differentiated early hepatocellular carcinoma by percutaneous transhepatic portal embolization.

The patient was a 49-year-old male under observation for chronic hepatitis B. In July 1997, abdominal ultrasonography showed multiple hyperechoic nodules in the right lobe, the largest with a diameter of 3.5 cm.