Portal vein tumor thrombus in advanced hepatocellular carcinoma: A case report

Portal vein tumor thrombus (PVTT) in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a common entity. However, the prognosis of patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) with portal vein tumor thrombus (PVTT) is extremely poor. The current study reports a case of HCC with PVTT, including a description of the gross surgical pathology and discussion of the relevance of assessing the growth of the tumor thrombus to the outcome of this disease. This case suggests that destruction of the primary tumor and PVTT must be considered according to the growth characteristics and modality of PVTT. It also indicates that transcatheter arterial embolization may be a suitable strategy for palliative treatment of patients with advanced HCC with PVTT.