We have done the questionnaire about patients with hepatocellular carcinoma in Yamaguchi prefecture. The result was that 304 cases were answered. The mean age was 62.1 years old, and the ratio of male to female was 3.7 to 1. Abdominal ultrasonography was examined most frequently, and the next was computed tomography as the method of diagnosis. The serum α-fetoprotein level showed less than 400ng/ml in cases of 49.3%. HBs antigen was positive in cases of 15.9%. Positive cases were significantly lower in the mean age as compared with negative cases, and the ratio of male to female was 8.2 to 1. Liver cirrhosis was complicated in cases of 84%.

A first case is a 43-year-old male. He was admitted after hard drinking, and died two days later for hepatic coma. It is thought that this case applies to a diagnostic criteria of severe alcoholic hepatitis made by a Japanese reserch group about the relation of alcohol to liver. A second case is a 45-year-old male. He was also admitted after hard drinking, but he recovered rapidly. This case was diagnosed as Zieve's syndrome, because hyperlipemia and hemolytic anemia were found.
Volumes of liver and spleen in these two cases were examined by computed tomography. Volumes of liver were more increased and those of spleen were more decreased than those of controls. In a second case a volume of liver was decreased gradually, and that of spleen was increased with recovery from sickness. It is thought that a volume of liver is increased in a patient with alcoholic hepatitis, because liver cells fall into ballooning. But the cause is unknown as yet that a volume of spleen is decreased.