7303                PRIMARY HEPATOCARCINOMA

The patient was a man aged 79 who had been vomiting for 11 weeks.  He was jaundiced for the 4 days before his admission and a haematemesis occurred on the morning of admission.  He died from the effects of this haemorrhage.  At postmortem the liver weighed 1270 gms and there was much blood in the stomach and intestines.

The specimen consists of a slice of liver.  The capsule is slightly thickened and the surface a little irregular from the presence of underlying neoplastic deposits.  The cut surface shows widely scattered focal and diffuse pale neoplastic infiltration throughout the liver.  The intervening liver substance is dark and congested.  Histology shows a hepatocellular carcinoma.