Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Case Reports
. 2017 Dec;16(4):597-604.
doi: 10.1177/1534735416660617. Epub 2016 Jul 21.

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

Chen Jianxin  1 , Xu Qingxia  1 , Wang Junhui  2 , Zheng Qinhong  1
Affiliations
Case Reports

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

Chen Jianxin et al. Integr Cancer Ther. 2017 Dec.

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.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of Conflicting Interests: The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Figures

Figure 1.
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.
Figure 2.
Pathological findings of tumor by hepatic resection. (A) Hepatocellular carcinoma cells with HE staining. (B) Intravascular cancer emboli.
Figure 3.
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.
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.
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.
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.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Jemal A, Bray F, Center MM, Ferlay J, Ward E, Forman D. Global cancer statistics. CA Cancer J Clin. 2011;61(2):69-90. - PubMed
    1. Llovet JM, Fuster J, Bruix J. Prognosis of hepatocellular carcinoma. Hepatogastroenterology. 2002;49(43):7-11. - PubMed
    1. Cheng AL, Kang YK, Chen Z, et al. Efficacy and safety of sorafenib in patients in the Asia-Pacific region with advanced hepatocellular carcinoma: a phase III randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial. Lancet Oncol. 2009;10:25-34. - PubMed
    1. Thomas MB, O’Beirne JP, Furuse J, Chan AT, Abou-Alfa G, Johnson P. Systemic therapy for hepatocellular carcinoma: cytotoxic chemotherapy, targeted therapy and immunotherapy. Ann Surg Oncol. 2008;15:1008-1014. - PubMed
    1. Llovet JM, Ricci S, Mazzaferro V, et al. Sorafenib in advanced hepatocellular carcinoma. N Engl J Med. 2008;359:378-390. - PubMed

Publication types

MeSH terms

Substances

LinkOut - more resources