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
. 2017 Feb 27;9(2):61-67.
doi: 10.4240/wjgs.v9.i2.61.

Clinicopathological features and surgical outcome of patients with fibrolamellar hepatocellular carcinoma (experience with 22 patients over a 15-year period)

Mohamed Abdel Wahab  1 , Ehab El Hanafy  1 , Ayman El Nakeeb  1 , Mahmoud Abdelwahab Ali  1
Affiliations

Clinicopathological features and surgical outcome of patients with fibrolamellar hepatocellular carcinoma (experience with 22 patients over a 15-year period)

Mohamed Abdel Wahab et al. World J Gastrointest Surg. .

Abstract

Aim: To evaluate the clinicopathological features and the surgical outcomes of patients with fibrolamellar hepatocellular carcinoma (FL-HCC) over a 15-year period.

Methods: This is a retrospective study including 22 patients with a pathologic diagnosis of FL-HCC who underwent hepatectomy over a 15-year period. Tumor characteristics, survival and recurrence were evaluated.

Results: There were 11 male and 11 female with a median age of 29 years (range from 21 to 58 years). Two (9%) patients had hepatitis C viral infection and only 2 (9%) patients had alpha-fetoprotein level > 200 ng/mL. The median size of the tumors was 12 cm (range from 5-20 cm). Vascular invasion was detected in 5 (23%) patients. Four (18%) patients had lymph node metastases. The median follow up period was 42 mo and the 5-year survival was 65%. Five (23%) patients had a recurrent disease, 4 of them had a second surgery with 36 mo median time interval. Vascular invasion is the only significant negative prognostic factor.

Conclusion: FL-HCC has a favorable prognosis than common HCC and should be suspected in young patients with non cirrhotic liver. Aggressive surgical resection should be done for all patients. Repeated hepatectomy should be considered for these patients as it has a relatively indolent course.

Keywords: Common hepatocellular carcinoma; Fibrolamellar hepatocellular carcinoma; Pathology of fibrolamellar hepatocellular carcinoma; Recurrence after resection fibrolamellar hepatocellular carcinoma; Survivalefter resection fibrolamellar hepatocellular carcinoma.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Conflict-of-interest statement: No conflict of interest; No financial support.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Large right lobe fibrolamellar hepatocellular carcinoma.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Fibrolamellar hepatocellular carcinoma left lobe.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Fibrolamellar hepatocellular carcinoma right lobe.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Large retro-caval lynph node 2-year after resection fibrolamellar hepatocellular carcinoma.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Edmondson HA. Differential diagnosis of tumors and tumor-like lesions of liver in infancy and childhood. AMA J Dis Child. 1956;91:168–186. - PubMed
    1. Craig JR, Peters RL, Edmondson HA, Omata M. Fibrolamellar carcinoma of the liver: a tumor of adolescents and young adults with distinctive clinico-pathologic features. Cancer. 1980;46:372–379. - PubMed
    1. Collier NA, Weinbren K, Bloom SR, Lee YC, Hodgson HJ, Blumgart LH. Neurotensin secretion by fibrolamellar carcinoma of the liver. Lancet. 1984;1:538–540. - PubMed
    1. McLarney JK, Rucker PT, Bender GN, Goodman ZD, Kashitani N, Ros PR. Fibrolamellar carcinoma of the liver: radiologic-pathologic correlation. Radiographics. 1999;19:453–471. - PubMed
    1. Imkie M, Myers SA, Li Y, Fan F, Bennett TL, Forster J, Tawfik O. Fibrolamellar hepatocellular carcinoma arising in a background of focal nodular hyperplasia: a report of 2 cases. J Reprod Med. 2005;50:633–637. - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources