With the advances in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) treatment, the lung metastasis of HCC is becoming increasingly important. In treating the lung metastasis of HCC, a multidisciplinary approach can lead to better results than systemic chemotherapy alone. Here, we report on a patient who presented with pulmonary masses, while the HCC was being controlled in the abdominal cavity. The presence of nontuberculous mycobacteria was identified during the diagnosis of the pulmonary masses. The pulmonary metastases of HCC were treated with a combination of angiotherapy, radiation therapy, and radiofrequency ablation. The patient showed a satisfactory progress with this multidisciplinary localized treatment. We report the clinical progress and review the recent literature regarding the treatment of pulmonary metastasis without intrahepatic HCC herein.
Abdominal Cavity ; Carcinoma, Hepatocellular ; Catheter Ablation ; Diagnosis ; Drug Therapy ; Humans ; Lung ; Neoplasm Metastasis ; Nontuberculous Mycobacteria

Due to advances in the treatment and diagnosis of cancer, many women survive long after treatment, and therefore express concerns about the impact of estrogen deficiency on their quality of life. Cancer treatment can induce menopause through surgical removal of the ovaries, chemotherapy, or radiation. Women who undergo induced menopause usually experience more sudden and severe menopausal symptoms, including vasomotor symptoms, psychological symptoms, genitourinary symptoms, cardiovascular disease, and osteoporosis. Menopausal hormone therapy (MHT) is especially important in women younger than 40. In this review, we consider the role of MHT after the diagnosis of breast, gynecologic, colorectal, stomach, liver, lung, and hematologic cancers. MHT is advantageous in endometrial cancer type I, cervical squamous cell carcinoma, colorectal cancer, hepatocellular carcinoma, and hematologic malignancies. However, MHT is not recommended for use in breast cancer, endometrial stromal sarcoma, hormone receptor–positive gastric cancer, and lung cancer survivors because it is linked to an increased risk of cancer recurrence. Depending on the type of cancer, clinicians should recommend that cancer survivors receive appropriate MHT in order to reduce vasomotor symptoms and to benefit from its positive effects on the cardiovascular and skeletal systems.
Breast ; Breast Neoplasms ; Carcinoma, Hepatocellular ; Carcinoma, Squamous Cell ; Cardiovascular Diseases ; Colorectal Neoplasms ; Diagnosis ; Drug Therapy ; Endometrial Neoplasms ; Estrogens ; Female ; Hematologic Neoplasms ; Humans ; Liver ; Lung ; Lung Neoplasms ; Menopause ; Osteoporosis ; Ovary ; Quality of Life ; Recurrence ; Sarcoma, Endometrial Stromal ; Stomach ; Stomach Neoplasms ; Survivors

Various molecular targeted therapies and diagnostic modalities have been developed for the treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC); however, HCC still remains a difficult malignancy to cure. Recently, the focus has shifted to cancer metabolism for the diagnosis and treatment of various cancers, including HCC. In addition to conventional diagnostics, the measurement of enhanced tumor cell metabolism using F-18 fluorodeoxyglucose (18F-FDG) for increased glycolysis or C-11 acetate for fatty acid synthesis by positron emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT) is well established for clinical management of HCC. Unlike tumors displaying the Warburg effect, HCCs vary substantially in terms of 18F-FDG uptake, which considerably reduces the sensitivity for tumor detection. Accordingly, C-11 acetate has been proposed as a complementary radiotracer for detecting tumors that are not identified by 18F-FDG. In addition to HCC diagnosis, since the degree of 18F-FDG uptake converted to standardized uptake value (SUV) correlates well with tumor aggressiveness, 18F-FDG PET/CT scans can predict patient outcomes such as treatment response and survival with an inverse relationship between SUV and survival. The loss of tumor suppressor genes or activation of oncogenes plays an important role in promoting HCC development, and might be involved in the “metabolic reprogramming” of cancer cells. Mutations in various genes such as TERT, CTNNB1, TP53, and Axin1 are responsible for the development of HCC. Some microRNAs (miRNAs) involved in cancer metabolism are deregulated in HCC, indicating that the modulation of genes/miRNAs might affect HCC growth or metastasis. In this review, we will discuss cancer metabolism as a mechanism for treatment resistance, as well as an attractive potential therapeutic target in HCC.
Carcinoma, Hepatocellular* ; Diagnosis ; Drug Resistance ; Electrons ; Fluorodeoxyglucose F18 ; Genes, Tumor Suppressor ; Glycolysis ; Humans ; Metabolism* ; MicroRNAs ; Molecular Targeted Therapy ; Neoplasm Metastasis ; Oncogenes ; Positron-Emission Tomography and Computed Tomography

BACKGROUND/AIMS: Little is known about the treatment or outcomes of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) complicated with bile duct invasion. METHODS: A total of 247 consecutive HCC patients with bile duct invasion at initial diagnosis were retrospectively included. RESULTS: The majority of patients had Barcelona Clinic Liver Cancer (BCLC) stage C HCC (66.8%). Portal vein tumor thrombosis was present in 166 (67.2%) patients. Median survival was 4.1 months. Various modalities of treatment were initially employed including surgical resection (10.9%), repeated transarterial chemoembolization (TACE) (42.5%), and conservative management (42.9%). Among the patients with obstructive jaundice (n=88), successful biliary drainage was associated with better overall survival rate. Among the patients with BCLC stage C, overall survival differed depending on the initial treatment for HCC; surgical resection, TACE, systemic chemotherapy, and conservative management showed overall survival rates of 11.5, 6.0 ,2.4, and 1.6 months, respectively. After adjusting for confounders, surgical resection and repeated TACE were significant prognostic factors for HCC patients with bile duct invasion (hazard ratios 0.47 and 0.39, Ps <0.001, respectively). CONCLUSIONS: The survival of HCC patients with bile duct invasion at initial diagnosis is generally poor. However, aggressive treatments for HCC such as resection or biliary drainage may be beneficial therapeutic options for patients with preserved liver function.
Bile Ducts* ; Bile* ; Carcinoma, Hepatocellular* ; Diagnosis ; Drainage ; Drug Therapy ; Humans ; Jaundice, Obstructive ; Liver ; Liver Neoplasms ; Portal Vein ; Prognosis ; Retrospective Studies ; Survival Rate ; Thrombosis

BACKGROUND/AIMS: Gastric hepatoid adenocarcinoma (GHA), a rare type of primary gastric cancer, is characterized by a histology resembling hepatocellular carcinoma. Previous case studies reported that patients with GHA have a poor prognosis due to early lymph node or liver metastasis, but information concerning GHA is still limited. Therefore, we aimed to evaluate the clinicopathological features of GHA. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We reviewed the medical records of 9 patients who were diagnosed as having GHA between January 2011 and December 2016. The clinicopathological characteristics of these patients were retrospectively analyzed. RESULTS: The median age of the patients at diagnosis was 68.9 years. Seven of the 9 patients were male. Serum AFP levels were elevated in 3 of 4 patients. All the tumors were >4 cm (range, 4~12 cm), and 7 tumors were located at the lower third of the stomach. Five tumors were classified as Borrmann's type 3, with a purple, berry-like surface. Of the 6 patients without distant metastasis, 5 received curative-intent surgery and 3 received adjuvant chemotherapy. Three patients with distant metastasis received either palliative operation and/or chemotherapy. Their median survival time was 11.8 months (range, 1~36 months). Two patients with elevated serum CEA levels had poor outcomes. CONCLUSIONS: GHA is a rare subtype of gastric cancer that is prone to liver metastasis. All GHAs are advanced gastric cancer with a purple, berry-like surface at diagnosis. Although the prognosis of advanced-stage GHA is poor, active multimodality treatment might provide some benefit.
Adenocarcinoma* ; Carcinoma, Hepatocellular ; Chemotherapy, Adjuvant ; Diagnosis ; Drug Therapy ; Endoscopy ; Humans ; Liver ; Lymph Nodes ; Male ; Medical Records ; Neoplasm Metastasis ; Prognosis ; Retrospective Studies ; Stomach ; Stomach Neoplasms

PURPOSE: Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a rarely occurring disease in the pediatric population. We report our center's experience of management of HCC in children and adolescents. METHODS: From 1996 to 2012, 16 patients aged 18 or younger were diagnosed with HCC at our center. The medical records of these 16 patients were retrospectively reviewed. RESULTS: There were 9 boys and 7 girls. Median age at diagnosis of HCC was 14.5 years. All patient had pathologically confirmed diagnosis of HCC. Three patients had distant metastasis at the time of HCC diagnosis. Eight patients were surgically managed, including 4 liver resections, 3 liver transplantations, and 1 intraoperative radiofrequency ablation. The remaining 8 patients received systemic chemotherapy. Overall, 6 patients are alive at median 63.6 months after diagnosis of HCC. All survivors were surgically managed patients. CONCLUSION: HCC is a rare disease occurring in childhood. Patients with systemic disease have poor outcome. Liver transplantation may be a good option for treatment of pediatric HCC.
Adolescent* ; Carcinoma, Hepatocellular* ; Catheter Ablation ; Child* ; Diagnosis ; Drug Therapy ; Female ; Humans ; Liver ; Liver Transplantation ; Medical Records ; Neoplasm Metastasis ; Pediatrics ; Rare Diseases ; Retrospective Studies ; Survivors

Aged ; Antineoplastic Agents ; adverse effects ; Carcinoma, Hepatocellular ; drug therapy ; Hand-Foot Syndrome ; diagnosis ; etiology ; Humans ; Liver Neoplasms ; drug therapy ; Male ; Neoplasms, Multiple Primary ; drug therapy ; Niacinamide ; adverse effects ; analogs & derivatives ; Phenylurea Compounds ; adverse effects

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is well known malignancy with poor prognosis, even after resection of the primary tumor. Sorafenib is the first-line treatment in advanced HCC, but the disease control rate of sorafenib is only 43%. Pulmonary metastasectomy in patients with pulmonary metastasis from HCC has been reported to increase long-term survival compared with systemic chemotherapy. Video-assisted thoracic surgery is considered a reliable approach to the diagnosis and treatment of pulmonary diseases with low complication rate. Pulmonary metastasectomy is not universally accepted because of frequent local recurrence, an uncontrollable primary tumor, and frequent multiple pulmonary metastases in HCC, but outcome of pulmonary metastasectomy and adjuvant sorafenib therapy has not been studied. We experienced a patient who had advanced HCC with pulmonary oligometastasis and received surgical resection of the metastatic pulmonary nodule and sorafenib chemotherapy. In advanced HCC with pulmonary oligometastasis, surgical resection of pulmonary metastasis and sorafenib chemotherapy should be considered.
Carcinoma, Hepatocellular* ; Diagnosis ; Drug Therapy ; Humans ; Lung Diseases ; Metastasectomy ; Neoplasm Metastasis* ; Prognosis ; Recurrence ; Thoracic Surgery, Video-Assisted

With an increasing number of patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) undergoing liver transplantation (LT), tumor recurrence remains the main limiting factor for long-term survival. Although sorafenib is available for advanced HCC, there is still a lack of data on the use of sorafenib for treatment of recurrent HCC after LT. Here, we report on four cases of the use of sorafenib for treatment of recurrent HCC after LT. The median time of recurrence from LT was 4 months (range, 1-16 months). Two of the four evaluated patients showed stable disease, which was the best response and the duration of stabilization was 11 months and 5 months, respectively. One patient also experienced stable disease and remained in stable disease without sorafenib therapy for 29 months and the total duration of stabilization was 38 months. The remaining patient showed partial response but stopped treatment due to radiological tumor progression during treatment. Although all cases were high risk group for recurrence such as above Milan criteria, vascular invasion and tumor biology, clinical outcomes showed some good results. Therefore, sorafenib may be an acceptable treatment option for recurrent HCC after LT.
Antineoplastic Agents/*therapeutic use ; Carcinoma, Hepatocellular/diagnosis/*drug therapy ; Female ; Humans ; Liver Neoplasms/diagnosis/*drug therapy ; *Liver Transplantation ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Neoplasm Recurrence, Local ; Niacinamide/*analogs & derivatives/therapeutic use ; Phenylurea Compounds/*therapeutic use ; Positron-Emission Tomography ; Tomography, X-Ray Computed

OBJECTIVETo investigate the efficacy and safety of antiviral treatment in patients with hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection and decompensated cirrhosis and determine the effects of virological response on long-term prognosis.

METHODSSixty-six consecutive,interferon (IFN)-na(i)ve patients with HCV infection and decompensated cirrhosis were enrolled in this prospective study. All patients were given a 48-to 72-week course of IFN plus ribavirin (RBV) combined therapy,with a low accelerating dosage regimen using either:pegylated (PEG)-IFNa-2b at 1.0-1.5 mug/kg/week,PEG-IFNa-2a at 90-180 mug,or standard IFN-a-2b at 3MU,every other day.RBV was given at 800 to 1000 mg/day. All patients were routinely monitored for adverse drug reactions and virological response.Effects of treatments on patient survival were assessed by Kaplan-Meier analysis.

RESULTSAt the end of treatment,74.2% of patients were HCV RNA-negative,with 45.5% having achieved sustained virological response and 28.8% having relapsed;the remaining 25.7% of patients showed non-virological response (NVR). Among the patients with HCV genotype 1, 65.9% achieved end-of-treatment virological response (ETVR) and 34.1% achieved SVR;among the patients with HCV genotype 2,90.9% achieved ETVR and 68.2% achieved SVR. The positive and negative predictive values of early virological response (EVR) for ETVR were 95.7% and 75.0% respectively, and for SVR were 65.2% and 100% respectively. Compared with baseline,patients who achieved ETVR had better liver function,as evidenced by changes in levels of total bilirubin,alanine aminotransferase and albumin,as well as prothrombin activity and Child-Pugh score (t =4.564,11.486,2.303,2.699,3.694 respectively, all P less than 0.05).Compared with the NVR patients, the ETVR patients had lower risk of hepatic decompensation and hepatocellular carcinoma, and had improved survival (x2=18.756,6.992,7.580, respectively, all P less than 0.05).Twelve (18.2%) patients experienced serious adverse events,with 10 requiring premature treatment withdrawal and 2 dying.

CONCLUSIONAntiviral treatment for patients with HCV infection and decompensated cirrhosis using interferon in a low accelerating dosage regimen in combination with ribavirin is feasible.Patients who achieved ETVR had significantly improved long-term prognosis.

Alanine Transaminase ; Antiviral Agents ; therapeutic use ; Carcinoma, Hepatocellular ; Drug Therapy, Combination ; Genotype ; Hepacivirus ; genetics ; Hepatitis C ; diagnosis ; drug therapy ; Humans ; Interferon-alpha ; therapeutic use ; Kaplan-Meier Estimate ; Liver Cirrhosis ; drug therapy ; virology ; Liver Neoplasms ; Polyethylene Glycols ; therapeutic use ; Prospective Studies ; Recombinant Proteins ; therapeutic use ; Ribavirin ; therapeutic use ; Treatment Outcome