To assess the differences in the surgical results between patients with hepatitis B- and hepatitis C-related hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), the operative outcomes of 30 patients with hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg)-positive (the B-HCC group) and 96 patients with hepatitis C antibody (HCVAb)-positive (the C-HCC group), who had undergone hepatic resection from 1989 to 1993, were compared. The mean age of the patients in the C-HCC group was higher than that in the B-HCC group (61.7 years vs. 57.0 years, P < .05). The C-HCC group demonstrated both a greater decrease in liver function and a larger enhancement of inflammatory changes in the liver under a pathological examination (the current rate of active hepatitis: 69% vs. 27%, P < .001). There was also a higher incidence of total postoperative complications in the C-HCC group (60% vs. 37%, P < .05); however, regarding each individual complication, the rate was similar between the two groups. Two of the six patients with postoperative hepatic failure in the C-HCC group died. The mortality rate in the C-HCC group was 2%, but no operative death was encountered in the B-HCC group. The crude survival and the disease-free survival rates at 5 years were similar, 61.8% and 46.2% in the B-HCC group and 52.8% and 23.2% in the C-HCC group, respectively. The patterns of recurrence were also similar in both groups. The pathological features of HCC were similar between the two groups. In conclusion, the surgical results between the two groups were almost identical.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)