Role of chemoembolization as a rescue treatment for recurrence of resected hepatoblastoma in adult patients.
Keywords
Abstract
BACKGROUND
Hepatoblastoma is the most common malignant liver tumor in children, but it is extremely rare in adults.
METHODS
A 33-year-old man was admitted with nausea, vomiting, weight loss, and right upper quadrant pain. A preoperative magnetic resonance imaging showed a nodular hepatic lesion infiltrating the lesser curvature of the stomach. A left hepatectomy and a subtotal gastrectomy were performed. The histological diagnosis was hepatoblastoma. A recurrence in the right lobe was seen.
RESULTS
Three cycles of transcatheter arterial chemoembolization (TACE) were performed 40, 70, and 130 days after surgery. No sign of recurrence was present at the time of the second chemoembolization.
CONCLUSIONS
The TACE was well tolerated by the patient and controlled the recurrence. The patient survived 11 months after recurrence of disease and died 1 year after the liver resection. The use of TACE to treat the hepatic recurrence was never described.
