Adult hepatoblastoma successfully treated with multimodal treatment

Adult hepatoblastoma is rare and the prognosis is extremely poor. Although surgery offers the only chance for cure, it often recurs even after complete resection. To date, no therapeutic strategy has been established. We report here a rare case of adult hepatoblastoma successfully treated with multimodal treatment.

A 25-year-old female who had been suffering from right hypochondriac pain was referred to our hospital. Preoperative diagnosis was adult hepatoblastoma. Huge liver tumor was initially deemed unresectable. An intensive chemotherapy including arterial chemoinfusion using interventional-radiological technique resulted in a remarkable tumor reduction. Furthermore, lung metastasis that had later appeared was completely treated with additional chemotherapy. Then she underwent curative surgery at 8 months after initial treatment.

The pathological diagnosis was well-differentiated hepatoblastoma. The postoperative course was uneventful and she received short-course adjuvant chemotherapy. She survived for over 4 years after diagnosis.

To our knowledge, this is the first report demonstrating long-term survival of a patient with initially unresectable adult hepatoblastoma. Our new therapeutic strategy may provide new insights into the treatment of this fatal disease.