Clinical correlation between necrosis of hepatocellular carcinoma nodule and early recurrence after hepatic resection

Here we report on the case of a 51-year-old man who presented with a high-grade fever six weeks prior to hepatic resection. The resected specimen of the liver showed a well encapsulated and completely necrotic mass and some intrahepatic metastatic disease. Widespread multinodular recurrence in the liver remnant and metastatic foci in the bones were detected approximately one year after surgery. This case suggests that transcatheter arterial embolization--which aims to bring about necrosis of the tumor--followed by hepatic resection might increase the risk of early recurrence of hepatocellular carcinoma, due to the fact that tumor necrosis can facilitate the release of cancer cells from the primary tumor.