Surgical treatment outcomes of primary hepatic sarcomas: A single-center experience

Abstract

BACKGROUND Primary hepatic sarcoma is a rare tumor originated from mesenchymal tissue. There are various pathologic types of primary hepatic sarcoma and the treatment outcome of this tumor was usually disappointing. Unlike hepatocellular carcinoma, outcome of primary hepatic sarcoma is not well-known due to it’s rarity. However, with development of medical technology, surgical treatment may lead to better survival. AIM To investigate the surgical outcomes of primary hepatic sarcoma, we gathered and analyzed the cases of a single institute. METHODS From August 2001 to September 2016, a total of nine patients were surgically treated for primary hepatic sarcoma after exclusion of cases with open and closure, early loss to follow-up and sarcomatoid hepatocellular carcinoma and sarcomatoid cholangiocellular carcinoma. Baseline characteristics, tumor characteristics such as tumor pathology, size and number, surgical and adjuvant treatments were reviewed. Tumor recurrence, and patient survival were analyzed with retrospective approach. RESULTS The enrolled participants included five patients with angiosarcoma and four patients with undifferentiated sarcoma. All patients experienced tumor recurrence at a median of 52 post-operative days. Only two patients survived and the 5-year survival rate was 29.6%. One patient with angiosarcoma who received central hepatectomy for primary tumor and received radiofrequency ablation for recurrent tumor still lives for 11 years. One patient with undifferentiated sarcoma received Rt. lobectomy for primary tumor followed by chemotherapy and radiation therapy still lives around 30 mo even though she got additional operation for recurrent tumor. Two patients who received living donor liver transplantation due to angiosarcoma died. Only adjuvant therapy was associated with survival gain ( P = 0.002). CONCLUSION Patients with primary hepatic sarcoma may gain survival benefit with surgical resection followed by adjuvant therapy, even though the outcome remains relatively poor.

Primary hepatic angiosarcoma: A case report

“…Due to the low incidence rate of PHA, no clear treatment guidelines currently exist. The main therapeutic strategy for PHA is surgery, supplemented by radiotherapy and chemotherapy[ 17 , 18 ]. Surgery is considered the optimal treatment method, as it provides the best survival outcomes, especially for single tumors with a diameter of < 10 cm[ 19 , 20 ].…”

Hepatic undifferentiated embryonal sarcoma as a cause of acute abdomen

“…Liver sarcoma has several histological lines including angiosarcoma (32%), leiomyosarcoma (29%), epithelial hemangioendothelioma (15%), undifferentiated embryonal sarcoma (7%), among others. [1][2][3] Its etiology is unknown, unlike of other hepatic neoplasms. 4 Undifferentiated embryonal sarcoma (HUES) is an aggressive mesenchymal tumor that occurs predominantly in the pediatric population between 6 and 10 years of age without gender or ethnic predominance.…”

“…10 Surgical resection for primary liver sarcoma is considered a better treatment than chemotherapy, however dual therapy with surgery and chemotherapy is even better. 1 Sánchez-Reyes K et al Int J Res Med Sci. 2022 Nov;10(11):2639-2642…”

“…Undifferentiated embryonal sarcoma represents 7% of histological lines of primary liver sarcomas. [1][2][3][4] The term undifferentiated embryonal sarcoma (HUES) was introduced by Stocker and Ishak in 1978 to describe a group of hepatic mesenchymal tumors that did not show evidence of differentiation. From 1978 to 2008 there was a record of 80 cases in the literature.…”

Ultrasonography, contrast-enhanced ultrasonography and contrast- enhanced computer tomography features of hepatic sarcomatoid carcinoma and hepatic sarcoma: a retrospective study of 23 cases

“…There are various pathologic types of HS [4] . Authorities have classi ed hepatic diseases with these disparate components as chondrosarcoma, malignant brous histiocytoma, osteosarcoma, leiomyosarcoma, brosarcoma, rhabdomyosarcoma, angiosarcoma, liposarcoma and other mesenchymal tumors arising in the liver [5] .…”