Recurrence of hepatocellular carcinoma 12 years after the initial diagnosis

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is an aggressive tumor with poor long-term prognosis. The reported 5-year recurrence rate ranges from 75% to 100%. Therefore, extrahepatic metastasis of HCC is uncommon due to the highly malignant nature of the primary tumor. However, with advances in different treatment modalities for HCC, the incidence of extrahepatic metastasis appears to be increasing. Nevertheless, most recurrences occur relatively early after the initial diagnosis and treatment.

A research article to be published on May 7, 2010 in the World Journal of Gastroenterology addresses this question.

The research team from Hong Kong reported a patient who presented with a renal tumor 12 years after the initial treatment of primary HCC, which turned out to be a solitary recurrence of the initial HCC.

The case illustrated that, in managing patients with a past history of HCC who present with new mass lesions, the diagnosis of extra-hepatic metastasis should always be suspected. Although the final treatment might not be altered, the diagnosis of metastatic HCC would allow better surgical planning and counseling for the patient.

Reference: Wong TCL, To KF, Hou SSM, Yip SKH, Ng CF. Late retroperitoneal recurrence of hepatocellular carcinoma 12 years after initial diagnosis. World J Gastroenterol 2010; 16(17): 2187-2189

http://www.wjgnet.com/1007-9327/full/v16/i17/2187.htm

Correspondence to: Chi-Fai Ng, Professor, MBChB, FRCSEd, FCSHK, FHKAM (Surgery), Department of Surgery, Prince of Wales Hospital, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, Hong Kong, China. ngcf@surgery.cuhk.edu.hk

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World Journal of Gastroenterology (WJG), a leading international journal in gastroenterology and hepatology, has established a reputation for publishing first class research on esophageal cancer, gastric cancer, liver cancer, viral hepatitis, colorectal cancer, and H. pylori infection and provides a forum for both clinicians and scientists. WJG has been indexed and abstracted in Current Contents/Clinical Medicine, Science Citation Index Expanded (also known as SciSearch) and Journal Citation Reports/Science Edition, Index Medicus, MEDLINE and PubMed, Chemical Abstracts, EMBASE/Excerpta Medica, Abstracts Journals, Nature Clinical Practice Gastroenterology and Hepatology, CAB Abstracts and Global Health. ISI JCR 2008 IF: 2.081. WJG is a weekly journal published by WJG Press. The publication dates are the 7th, 14th, 21st, and 28th day of every month. WJG is supported by The National Natural Science Foundation of China, No. 30224801 and No. 30424812, and was founded with the name of China National Journal of New Gastroenterology on October 1, 1995, and renamed WJG on January 25, 1998.