A Case of Recurrent Hepatocellular Carcinoma Acquiring Complete Remission of Target Lesion With Treatment With Traditional Chinese Medicine

Abstract

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is one of the most prevalent malignancies worldwide. Although surgery is known as the most promising radical treatment, a high recurrent or metastatic rate after surgery has limited its clinical efficacy. Sorafenib, a target agent, has seemed to be the only option for metastatic HCC patients to date, but none of clinical trials showed it could prolong the overall survival (OS) of advanced HCC to 1 year. How to prolong the OS and improve cure rate of HCC patients is still beset with difficulties. This report presents a rare case of recurrent HCC patient with complete regression of target lesion with 2 years of Chinese herbal treatment. A 64-year-old Chinese man with hepatitis B virus-associated chronic hepatitis presented HCC has been clinically diagnosed tumor relapse and omentum metastasis with computed tomography and α-fetoprotein blood test 4 months after surgery. It was decided the patient would receive traditional Chinese medicine treatment because of poor prognosis. After approximately 2 years of treatment, recurrent hepatic tumor and omentum metastasis have been found in complete regression. The patient remains alive over 31 months after relapse.

Keywords: activities; complete remission; recurrent hepatocellular carcinoma; spontaneous regression; traditional Chinese medicine.

Figure 1.

Computed tomography findings before and after surgery. (A) An enlarged solid mass in right lobe of liver on February 11, 2013. (B) CT scan after tumor resection on March 18, 2013.

Figure 2.

Pathological findings of tumor by hepatic resection. (A) Hepatocellular carcinoma cells with HE staining. (B) Intravascular cancer emboli.

Figure 3.

Computed tomography scan of recurrent liver tumor and omentum metastasis on July 5, 2013. (A) Recurrent tumor in right lobe of liver. (B) Omentum metastasis in right abdomen.

Figure 4.

Ultrasonography of liver and omentum metastasis with TCM treatment on July 30, 2014. (A) Recurrent tumor in liver disappeared. (B) Omentum metastasis measuring 6.2 cm × 4.5 cm.

Figure 5.

Ultrasonography of liver and omentum metastasis with TCM treatment on December 28, 2014. (A) Recurrent tumor in liver disappeared. (B) Omentum metastasis measuring 4.5 cm × 3.7 cm.

Figure 6.

Computed tomography scan of liver and abdomen with 2 years of TCM treatment on October 29, 2015. (A) CT showed tumor in the liver disappeared. (B) Omentum metastasis in the abdomen vanished.