Objective To detect the expression of KL-6 mucin in the tissue and serum of hepatoma in different hepatoma patients,and to investigate the value of KL-6 mucin as a tumor marker in the diagnosis of hepatoma.Methods The expression of KL-6 mucin in the hepatoma tissues of 81 patients with hepatocellular carcinoma(HCC),21 patients with cholangiocarcinoma(CC),12 patients with combined hepatocellular and cholangiocarcinoma(HCC-CC)and 56 patients with metastatic liver cancer(MLC)was detected by immunohistochemical analysis.The expression of KL-6 mucin in the serums of 34 HCC patients,8 CC patients,30 MLC patients and 19 healthy individuals was detected by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay,and all the data were analyzed by t test.Results Expression of KL-6 mucin was detected in the cholangiocarcinoma tissues in all CCand HCC-CC patients.In several hepatoma cells and partial hepatoma tissues of patients with MLC,the expression of KL-6 mucin was detected.No expression of KL-6 mucin was detected in the hepatocellular carcinoma tissuesand non-cancerous tissues of patients with HCC or HCC-CC.The serum levels of KL-6 mucin expression in CC patients were signifcantly higher than those in healthy individuals,HCC and MLC patients(t=5.58,5.34,4.00.P＜0.01).The difference of the serum levels of KL-6 mucin expression between MLC patients and healthy individuals had statistical significance(t=2.77,P＜0.01).However,no significant difference in serum levels of KL-6 mucin expression was found between HCC patients and healthy individuals and between HCC patients and MLC patients(t=2.03,1.89,P＞0.05).Conclusion The expression of KL-6 inucin in CC patients is significantly higher than in patients with other types of hepatoma in both tissue and serum levels.Thus,KL-6 may be a usetul new tmnor marker for distinguishing CC from other types of hepatoma.

Objective To evaluate the efficacy of intraopèrative ultrasonography (IOUS) on primary and repeated hepatectomies for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).Methods 430 patients underwent 555 operations for HCC.New tumors detected by IOUS at the primary and repeated hepatectomies were retrospectively analyzed.The long-term outcomes were also studied.Results IOUS had the highest sensitivity in the routinely used imaging examinations.The detection rate by each imaging modality decreased slightly but uniformly at the second hepatectomy.IOUS detected 56 new tumors in 30 patients (7.1％) at the primary hepatectomy and 13 new tumors in 8 (7.3％) at the second.The average size of tumor detected was 8.7±3.8 and 9.0±5.2 mm at the primary and second resections,respectively.The preoperative surgical plan was changed due to the IOUS findings alone in 24 patients (5.6％) at the primary hepatectomy,and in 7 (6.4％) at the second.Although recurrence was frequent in patients with new tumors detected at the primary hepatectomy,long-term survival after appropriate treatment for recurrence was similar to those patients without new tumors detected.Conlusions Despite recent progress in imaging modalities,IOUS is still the most sensitive examination.The same degree of precaution is necessary to detect new tumors using IOUS in repeated hepatectomy.Patients with new tumors detected by IOUS are at high risk for recurrence so that regular check-up is important to improve patient survival.