Hepatocellular carcinoma and hepatic adenocarcinosarcoma in a patient with hepatitis B virus-related cirrhosis.

The authors present the case of a 48-year-old man with hepatitis B cirrhosis, who developed two primary malignant liver tumors that were morphologically distinct from each other. The first tumor was a hepatocellular carcinoma and the second tumor, detected 17 months later was a hepatic carcinosarcoma with cholangiocarcinomatous and sarcomatous components, without any hepatocellular carcinoma component. Clonality studies using microsatellite-based loss of heterozygosity (LOH) demonstrated different LOH patterns existed between the hepatocellular carcinoma and the hepatic carcinosarcoma, indicative of different clonal origins. The authors discuss the histogenesis, histopathologic diagnosis, and clinical behavior of hepatic carcinosarcoma.