Histologic classification of liver-cell carcinoma in infancy and childhood and its clinical evaluation. A study of 70 cases collected in Japan.

Clinical data and morphological materials from 70 cases of liver-cell carcinoma in infants and children in Japan were collected and studied. The cases were classified into 4 types according to the histopathologic appearance of the epithelial components: 1. adult type; 2. anaplastic type; 3. embryonal type; and 4. fetal type. The study confirmed the existence of a distinct correlation beween the histologic type of the tumor, its gross appearance, and the clinical course of the disease. Twenty-seven of the 70 cases underwent radical surgery. Postoperative prognosis was studied in these cases according to histologic types of tumor. Of 9 long-term survivors (i.e., surviving more than 2 years), 7 were found to belong to the fetal type. No difference was found in prognosis between the cases with and without osteoid tissue in tumor. The benign character of the fetal type, as compared with other types of hepatoblastoma, was demonstrated even in infants under 12 months of age.