Outcomes of children with hepatoblastoma who underwent liver resection at a tertiary hospital in China: a retrospective analysis

Abstract

Background: To report the outcomes of hepatoblastoma resected in our institution. Methods: We diagnosed 135 children with hepatoblastoma at our institution between January 2010 and December 2017. Patients who underwent liver resection were included for analysis. However, patients who abandoned treatment after diagnosis were excluded from analysis, but their clinical characteristics were provided in the supplementary material. Results: Forty-two patients abandoned treatment, whereas 93 patients underwent liver resection and were included for statistical analysis. Thirty-six, 23, 3, and 31 patients had PRETEXT stages II, III, IV, and unspecified tumours, respectively. Seven patients had ruptured tumour; 9 had lung metastasis (one patient had portal vein thrombosis concurrently). Sixteen patients underwent primary liver resection; 22, 25, and 30 patients received cisplatin-based neoadjuvant chemotherapy and delayed surgery, preoperative transarterial chemoembolization (TACE) and delayed surgery, and a combination of cisplatin-based neoadjuvant chemotherapy, TACE, and delayed surgery, respectively. Forty patients had both PRETEXT and POST-TEXT information available for analysis. Twelve patients were down-staged after preoperative treatment, including 2, 8, and 2 patients from stages IV to III, III to II, and II to I, respectively. Ten patients with unspecified PRETEXT stage were confirmed to have POST-TEXT stages II (n = 8) and I (n = 2) tumours. Seven tumours were associated with positive surgical margins, and 12 patients had microvascular involvement. During a median follow-up period of 30.5 months, 84 patients survived without relapse, 9 experienced tumour recurrence, and 4 died. The 2-year event-free survival (EFS) and overall survival (OS) rates were 89.4 ± 3.4%, and 95.2 ± 2.4%, respectively; they were significantly better among patients without metastasis (no metastasis vs metastasis: EFS, 93.5 ± 3.7% vs 46.7 ± 19.0%, adjusted p = 0.002. OS, 97.6 ± 2.4% vs 61.0 ± 18.1%, adjusted p = 0.005), and similar among patients treated with different preoperative strategies (chemotherapy only vs TACE only vs Both: EFS, 94.7 ± 5.1% vs 91.7 ± 5.6% vs 85.6 ± 6.7%, p = 0.542. OS, 94.1 ± 5.7% vs 95.7 ± 4.3% vs 96.7 ± 3.3%, p = 0.845).

Hepatoblastoma – an institutional experience of this rare malignancy in children

“…A common observation among these series is that preoperative chemotherapy and appropriate risk strati cation can help achieve improved survival in these patients, which was corroborated by the results of our study. Wu et al [23] ( Li et al [25] (2020)…”

Elevated serum uric acid is associated with the risk of advanced staging and vascular involvement in patients with hepatoblastoma: a 14-year retrospective study

“…Children with advanced PRETEXT staging and vessel involvement should be treated with NAC at diagnosis before surgical resection can be performed (5). Accordingly, POSTTEXT staging after 2 or 4 cycles of NAC further assesses tumor response to the chemotherapy and is crucial to evaluate tumor resectability (34,35). Patients with advanced POSTEXT staging and unresectable vessel involvement are candidates for liver transplantation (34,36).…”

Central Hepatectomy in a 6-Month-Old Child with Hepatoblastoma following Chemotherapy

“…Regarding surgery, the number of children treated with CH is still limited in the literature. The study of Florent Guérin examined the largest series of CHs for HBL [ 14 , 15 ], with 9 CHs for CHBL, while the study of Li et al [ 16 ] reported only 2/93 (2.2%) CHs. Primary hepatectomy is recommended for patients with PRETEXT stages I and II without additional annotated risk factors.…”