Malignant mesenchymoma of the liver in children

Four children, aged 5 to 13 years, were treated for malignant mesenchymoma of the liver. Two survived longer than 5 years with complete resection and adjuvant chemotherapy. Two children who had incomplete resection with microscopic residual mesenchymoma both had tumor recurrence and died of disease progression despite radiation therapy and chemotherapy. Although previous reports emphasize a poor prognosis for children with this tumor, our experience would indicate that long-term survival can be achieved using complete surgical extirpation and adjuvant chemotherapy.