Hepatocellular Carcinoma

The tumor cells in HCC (left) bear a striking resemblance to normal hepatocytes (right), with round to oval nuclei and abundant eosinophilic cytoplasm arranged in trabecular patterns. The trabeculae in HCC, however, are thicker than those in non-neoplastic liver and reticulin is scanty to absent. Rarely, primary tumors at other sites - so-called hepatoid carcinomas of the stomach, ovary, etc - may mimic the characteristic trabecular pattern and bile production of HCC.