The clinicopathological and prognostic factors of hepatocellular carcinoma: a 10-year tertiary center experience in Egypt

Background Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) remains a major health problem despite the emergence of several preventive and therapeutic modalities. HCC has heterogeneous and wide morpho-molecular patterns, resulting in unique clinical and prognostic criteria. Therefore, we aimed to study the clinical and pathological criteria of HCC to update the morpho-molecular classifications and provide a guide to the diagnosis of this disease. Methods Five hundred thirty pathologically analyzed HCC cases were included in this study. The clinical and survival data of these cases were collected. Results Hepatitis C virus is still the dominant cause of HCC in Egypt. Post-direct-acting antiviral agent HCC showed an aggressive course compared to interferon-related HCC. Old age, male gender, elevated alpha-fetoprotein level, tumor size, and background liver were important prognostic parameters. Special HCC variants have characteristic clinical, laboratory, radiological, prognostic, and survival data. Tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes rather than neutrophil-rich HCC have an excellent prognosis. Conclusions HCC is a heterogenous tumor with diverse clinical, pathological, and prognostic parameters. Incorporating the clinicopathological profile per specific subtype is essential in the treatment decision of patients with HCC.