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The ratio of serum gamma-glutamyl transferase (GGT) to alanine aminotransferase (ALT) is a parameter for assessing responses to antiviral therapies. The relationship between the prognosis of hepatitis B-associated hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and preoperative GGT/ALT is studied in hepatectomized Child-Pugh A patients. Two hundred and nineteen patients with hepatitis B virus-related HCC were included. Serum ALT and GGT levels were examined preoperatively and the GGT/ALT ratios were calculated. Their prognostic capabilities were evaluated by Cox-regression model. As dichotomized variables, GGT and ALT were distributed unequally (P

To investigate the clinicopathologic characteristics of primary liver cancer (PLC) in young adults, 77 patients aged 35 or younger were compared with 603 patients older than 35 years during the same period. In the young patients, PLC showed: (1) a low incidence detected at mass survey (young 15.6% vs older 28.7%, P0.05); (2) a low level of history of hepatitis (young 36.8% vs older 66.3%, P0.01); (3) a high incidence of positivity for hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) (young 79.2% vs older 67.6%, P0.05); (4) a relatively low incidence of associated cirrhosis (young 64.9% vs older 90.7%, P0.01); (5) larger tumor size (PLC5 cm; young 87.0% vs older 73.0%, P0.01); and (6) a more advanced stage of the disease according to the TNM classification (stage III; young 29.9% vs older 18.2%, P0.05). It is suggested that hepatitis B virus (HBV) may play an important role in the development of PLC without associated liver cirrhosis in young patients. Close periodic surveillance of young adults who are positive for HBsAg is important to detect PLC at an early stage.