Hepatocellular carcinoma in the Malaysian Orang Asli

✍ Scribed by Dr. E. Sumithran; K. Prathap

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1976
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 273 KB
• Volume: 37
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0008-543X
• DOI: 10.1002/1097-0142(197605)37:5<2263::aid-cncr2820370516>3.0.co;2-g

✦ Synopsis

Necropsies were performed on 285 consecutively unclaimed Orang Asli bodies from Gombak Orang Asli Hospital during a n eight-year period from May 1967 to April 1975. Of the 25 malignant neoplasms, hepatocellular carcinoma was by far the commonest (36%). T h e nine patients with this neoplasm had coexistant macronodular cirrhosis. T h e r e were 20 cases of cirrhosis; 45% of these had coexistant hepatocellular carcinoma. T h e 53,000 Orang Aslis living in West Malaysia comprise three tribes, the Negrito, Senoi, a n d Melayu Asli (Proto Malays). T h e Senoi appear to have a high predilection for liver cancer, all our nine cases occurring in this group. These aboriginal people live in the jungles where they practice shifting cultivation and maintain their own dietary and social customs. Detailed studies of their dietary habits may provide a clue to the etiology of liver cancer in these people.