Spontaneous regression of a large hepatocellular carcinoma with skull metastasis

Abstract

Spontaneous regression of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a rare phenomenon. This case of a 65-year-old Korean man with HCC and metastatic frontal bone mass that regressed after radiotherapy for frontal bone mass without any other therapeutic modalities is described. The clinical diagnosis of HCC was made because of the presence of a liver mass on abdominal computed tomography (CT) scan, high serum alpha-fetoprotein value and tissue diagnosis on frontal bone biopsy. The patient refused any other recommended treatments, but accepted the radiation therapy due to a painful frontal bone mass, and ingested mushroom called Phellinus linteus for one and a half years. Ten months after radiation therapy, he experienced a reduction in size of the frontal bone mass and improvement of lesions in the liver, sternum and ribs. The patient is alive and in good condition without any symptoms or tumor aggravation in August 2002. It was concluded that a rare case of spontaneous regression of HCC had occurred.

Combining radiotherapy and immunotherapy for prostate cancer: two decades of research from preclinical to clinical trials

“…Local radiation has been reported to affect metastatic sites distant from the site of radiation in a phenomenon known as the "abscopal effect" [9,10,65,66]. Originally described by Mole in 1953, the abscopal effect was a rare phenomenon, which is described as the dramatic clinical and radiographical regression of metastatic lesions after RT to either the primary or a metastatic lesion [67].…”

Metastatic Skull Tumor From Cholangiocarcinoma-Case Report-

“…1,5,6,8,[11][12][13][14][15][16][17][19][20][21] The rate of bone metastasis from HCC is 4.8-15.8%, with skull metastasis representing 0.5-6.1% of all bone metastases, 1) although the incidence is increasing due to the prolonged survival after treatment for the primary lesion. 6) En bloc removal of metastatic skull tumor with the attached dura is recommended, 1,10) except for tumors at the skull base.…”

Proposed approach for revealing unknown mediators of the abscopal effect

“…Mole described systemic effects of radiotherapy observed at non-irradiated sites in animals after localized radiotherapy [1]. Multiple case studies have described the abscopal effect, with a variety of malignancies including lymphoma, papillary adenocarcinoma, and melanoma, adenocarcinoma of the oesophagus, chronic lymphocytic leukaemia and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) [2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13]. Takaya et al described an abscopal effect in toruliform para-aortic lymph node metastasis in a patient with advanced uterine cervical carcinoma.…”