Two cases with spontaneous regression of a histologically confirmed hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) are presented. This rarely seen phenomenon of a spontaneous tumor involution is discussed and compared with the current literature. The clinical symptoms were very similar to that of a liver abscess. A 56-year-old male suffered from a multicentric, highly differentiated, trabecular HCC. First symptoms were epigastric pain, septic fever and arthritis. The tumor marker AFP was constantly normal and no hepatitis could be verified. A resection of the tumor was performed. In patient 2, a 74-year-old male, a multicentric, clear cell HCC was found. The patient had completely recovered from hepatitis type B and within the liver tissue no viruses could be identified. Clinical symptoms were mainly characterized by upper abdominal pain and septic fever. AFP was excessively elevated (3850 ng/ml) but returned to normal preoperatively. In both cases, the specimen showed a subtotal necrotic HCC with insignificant amounts of vital tumor cells. Neither patient had a liver cirrhosis macroscopically, however patient 2 had local periportal fibrosis histologically. After 24 and 41 months of follow-up, respectively, both patients are in good health

A 65-year-old woman, known to have peptic ulcers, developed nausea and retching. Clinical examination demonstrated pain on pressure in the epigastrium with otherwise normative findings for age. Two gastric ulcers and gastritis with erosions were seen at endoscopy. The patient, who was being treated with digitoxin for heart failure, reported having taken up to four digitoxin tablets (0.07 mg each) daily because she had insomnia. The plasma digitoxin level was between 150 and 160 nmol/l (therapeutic range 17-33 nmol/l), while the ECG showed no signs of digitalis intoxication. Initially the platelet count was 40,000/microliter: there had been no history of thrombocytopenia or symptoms of abnormal haemostasis. Other laboratory tests were within normal limits. After digitoxin had been discontinued, the platelet count rose without further treatment to 373,000/microliter 3 weeks after hospital admission by which time the digitoxin level had fallen to 48.9 nmol/l. The gastrointestinal symptoms regressed completely on treatment with omeprazole (40 mg three times daily for 8 days) and ranitidine (150 mg twice daily).

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