Hepatocellular Carcinoma in Children and Adolescents: Clinical Characteristics and Treatment.

ABSTRACT: Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) occurs rarely in children and adolescents (C&A), and its clinical characteristics, prognostic factors, and treatment were rarely explored.This retrospective study focused on 65 HCC patients aged ?20 years from August 1994 to August 2012. Cox regression models and Kaplan-Meier curves were used to investigate prognostic factors and compare overall survival (OS), respectively.We found 61.5% of patients to have multiple tumors, 30.8% to have portal vein tumor thrombus, and 16.9% to have distant metastasis. Diameter of tumors was 10.2 ± 4.1 cm. OS at 5 years was 15.8%. Multivariate analyses showed initial treatment (P < 0.001) to be a predictor for OS. For moderate-stage HCC, the median OS of patients who underwent resection was longer than that of patients who underwent transarterial chemoembolization (TACE) or supportive treatment (ST) (P < 0.001). For advanced-stage HCC, the median OS of patients who underwent TACE was longer than that of patients who underwent ST (P = 0.045).HCC in C&A tends to be more advanced than that in adults, and resection remains the mainstay of treatment for those patients. Moreover, compared with ST, TACE may benefit C&A with moderate- and advanced-stage HCC, which needs further study.

SUBMITTER: Wang J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5486687 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature