Transplantation for liver tumors

Abstract

Currently, the primary use of liver transplantation in the setting of malignancy is in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma, with generally accepted criteria for transplantation consisting of the presence of one nodule less than 5 cm or two of three nodules each less than 3 cm in the absence of detectable vascular invasion. In some patients and settings, surgical resection before transplantation is an emerging, promising option. There is no clear beneficial role of transplantation in patients with resectable or unresectable cholangiocarcinoma, except in selected patients with unresectable disease that is associated with primary sclerosing cholangitis. While good survival results have been achieved with transplantation in patients with epithelioid hemangioendothelioma of the liver, the long-term survival of some patients without any radical treatment leaves the benefit of transplantation unclear. Transplantation would appear to benefit some patients with unresectable liver metastases from neuroendocrine tumors; those who present with non-neuroendocrine liver metastases are not considered candidates for transplantation.