Hepatoblastoma

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Patient Information

Overview

Historical Perspective

Classification

Pathophysiology

Causes

Epidemiology and Demographics

Risk Factors

Screening

Differentiating Hepatoblastoma from other Diseases

Natural History, Complications and Prognosis

Diagnosis

Staging

History and Symptoms

Physical Examination

Laboratory Findings

X Ray

CT

MRI

Ultrasound

Other Imaging Findings

Other Diagnostic Studies

Treatment

Medical Therapy

Surgery

Primary Prevention

Secondary Prevention

Cost-Effectiveness of Therapy

Future or Investigational Therapies

Case Studies

Case #1

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X-rays
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MRI

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Risk calculators and risk factors for Hepatoblastoma

Editor-In-Chief: C. Michael Gibson, M.S., M.D. [1]; Associate Editor(s)-in-Chief: Nima Nasiri, M.D.[2] Nawal Muazam M.D.[3]

Synonyms and keywords: Epithelial hepatoblastoma; Fetal hepatoblastoma; Embryonal hepatoblatoma; Macrotrabecular hepatoblastoma; Mixed hepatoblastoma; Rhabdoid hepatoblastoma; Small cell hepatoblastoma; Undifferentiated hepatoblastoma; Cholangioblastic hepatoblastoma; Teratoid hepatoblastoma; Chondroid hepatoblastoma; Osteoid hepatoblastoma; Rhabdomyoblastic hepatoblastoma; Neuroid-melanocytic hepatoblastoma; Well differentiated hepatoblastoma; HB

Overview

Hepatoblastoma is the most common primary liver tumor in young children, usually less than 3 years old, accounting for over 1% of pediatric cancers. The etiology is unknown, but it has been associated with Beckwith-Weidemann syndrome, familial adenomatosis polypi, and low birth weight. The primary treatment is surgical resection, however, chemotherapy plays an important role by increasing the number of tumors that are respectable. The prognosis for patients with resectable tumors is fairly good, however, the outcome for those with nonresectable or recurrent disease is poor.

PMID: 11110595

Historical Perspective

  • In 1898, the first case of a child with HB was published in the English literature. A 6-week-old boy was described whose autopsy showed a large tumor that occupied the lower half of the right liver lobe.[1]

Classification

Pathophysiology


Hepatoblastoma H&Esource:wikipedia


Causes

  • The most common genetic mutation which plays role in etiology of sporadic cases include:[8]
    • The Wnt signaling pathway which results in the accumulation of beta-catenin

Differentiating hepatoblastoma from Other Diseases

  • Hepatoblastoma must be differentiated from other diseases that cause rapidly enlarging abdominal mass in pediatrics such as:[9]

Epidemiology and Demographics

  • The incidence/prevalence of hepatoblastoma is approximately 0.05–0.15 patients per 100 000 population in children younger than 15 years.[10]
  • Peak incidence means of 18 months, mostly in infants and children younger than 3 years old, with a male predilection.
  • Hepatoblastoma is the most common primary liver cancer in infants and children, accounts for one percent of all primary malignancies in pediatrics.

Risk Factors

Screening

  • Ultrasound is currently the main screening tool for suspected liver pathology and is ideally suited for evaluation of hepatic lesions in children due to their generally small size.[11]
  • Serum alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) is the most important clinical marker of hepatoblastoma and helps to estimate malignant change, response to the treatment, and relapse. [9]

Natural History, Complications, and Prognosis

  • Prognosis is based on different factors including:[12]
    • Age of diagnosis, younger children have a better prognosis.
    • Metastases,
    • Alfa-fetoprotein (AFP) levels, drop in AFP level after chemotherapy means better response to treatment.
    • Histologic subtype, the well-differentiated fetal subtype has a better prognosis compared with small cell undifferentiated ones.
  • Complications of hepatoblastoma includes:
    • Pancytopenia
    • Anemia
    • Intraperitoneal tumor rupture
    • Complications related to chemotherapy such as renal failure
    • Post-transplant complications such as hepatic ductal obstruction, thrombosis.
    • Psychosocial effects of treatment and painful procedures

Diagnosis

Diagnostic Study of Choice

The diagnosis of hepatoblastoma is made when at least [number] of the following [number] diagnostic criteria are met: [criterion 1], [criterion 2], [criterion 3], and [criterion 4].

Staging

PRETEXT staging score :

History and Symptoms

  • The majority of patients with hepatoblastoma have an abdominal mass or abdominal distension. [9]
  • Other symptoms of hepatoblastoma include:
    • Abdominal discomfort,
    • Generalized fatigue,
    • Loss of appetite, due to tumor distension
    • Anemia.
  • Ruptured tumor can cause symptoms of peritoneal irritation such as nausea, vomiting, and severe anemia.

Physical Examination

  • Physical examination of patients with hepatoblastoma is usually remarkable for single, mildly painful, rapidly enlarging abdominal mass that is found in the right lobe of the liver.[13][9]
  • Most tumors are solitary; but can be multifocal as well.

Laboratory Findings

Laboratory findings consistent with the diagnosis of hepatoblastoma include:

Electrocardiogram

  • There are no ECG findings associated with hepatoblastoma.

X-ray

  • Chest X-rays can be useful especially since this tumor has the affinity to metastasize to lungs.

Echocardiography or Ultrasound

  • Imaging studies play an important role in the diagnosis, staging, and treatment of disease, most tumors can be resected surgically and ultrasound is often used in order to detect tumor size, also the initial diagnosis is made by abdominal ultrasound.

CT scan

CT scan is helpful to diagnose the disease, children with hepatoblastoma undergo either a CT or MRI scan at diagnosis. [14]

  • Surgeons prefer an angiographic or biphasic CT scan because of better depiction of the hepatic arterial, portal venous and hepatic vein and other liver structures.
  • Concerns about radiation exposures in pediatrics has changed this modality in favor of MRI, although MRI is much lengthy exam than CT has the advantage of multiplanar soft-tissue characterization, and when diffusion-weighted imaging techniques are used, MRI is exquisitely sensitive for detecting tiny liver lesions.
  • Helical CT findings of hypervascular lesions in the liver with delayed contrast excretion are highly suggestive of a malignant liver tumor

MRI

MRI has the advantage of multiplanar soft-tissue characterization, and when diffusion-weighted imaging techniques are used, MRI is exquisitely sensitive for detecting tiny liver lesions.

OR

[Location] MRI may be helpful in the diagnosis of [disease name]. Findings on MRI suggestive of/diagnostic of [disease name] include [finding 1], [finding 2], and [finding 3].

OR

There are no MRI findings associated with [disease name]. However, a MRI may be helpful in the diagnosis of complications of [disease name], which include [complication 1], [complication 2], and [complication 3].

Other Imaging Findings

There are no other imaging findings associated with [disease name].

OR

[Imaging modality] may be helpful in the diagnosis of [disease name]. Findings on an [imaging modality] suggestive of/diagnostic of [disease name] include [finding 1], [finding 2], and [finding 3].

Other Diagnostic Studies

There are no other diagnostic studies associated with [disease name].

OR

[Diagnostic study] may be helpful in the diagnosis of [disease name]. Findings suggestive of/diagnostic of [disease name] include [finding 1], [finding 2], and [finding 3].

OR

Other diagnostic studies for [disease name] include [diagnostic study 1], which demonstrates [finding 1], [finding 2], and [finding 3], and [diagnostic study 2], which demonstrates [finding 1], [finding 2], and [finding 3].

Treatment

Medical Therapy

  • The mainstay of therapy for hepatoblastoma is surgery, however, the vast majority of the tumors cannot be completely resected because of their large size or metastasis.[15]
  • Liver transplantation can be considered for tumors that cannot be removed by surgery.[16]
  • Chemotherapy is an important adjuvant therapy, and cisplatin is the most commonly used chemotherapeutic agent, it can reduce the volume of tumors that are too big for surgical removal.[17]

Surgery

  • Surgery is the mainstay of treatment for hepatoblastoma.[18]
  • The feasibility of surgery depends on the resectability of tumor at diagnosis.

Primary Prevention

There are no established measures for the primary prevention of hepatoblastoma.

Secondary Prevention

There are no established measures for the secondary prevention of [disease name].

OR

Effective measures for the secondary prevention of [disease name] include [strategy 1], [strategy 2], and [strategy 3].

References

  1. Aronson DC, Czauderna P, Maibach R, Perilongo G, Morland B (October 2014). "The treatment of hepatoblastoma: Its evolution and the current status as per the SIOPEL trials". J Indian Assoc Pediatr Surg. 19 (4): 201–7. doi:10.4103/0971-9261.142001. PMC 4204244. PMID 25336801.
  2. Rowland JM (November 2002). "Hepatoblastoma: assessment of criteria for histologic classification". Med. Pediatr. Oncol. 39 (5): 478–83. doi:10.1002/mpo.10171. PMID 12228903.
  3. Czauderna P, Lopez-Terrada D, Hiyama E, Häberle B, Malogolowkin MH, Meyers RL (February 2014). "Hepatoblastoma state of the art: pathology, genetics, risk stratification, and chemotherapy". Curr. Opin. Pediatr. 26 (1): 19–28. doi:10.1097/MOP.0000000000000046. PMID 24322718.
  4. MacDonald BT, Tamai K, He X (July 2009). "Wnt/beta-catenin signaling: components, mechanisms, and diseases". Dev. Cell. 17 (1): 9–26. doi:10.1016/j.devcel.2009.06.016. PMC 2861485. PMID 19619488.
  5. 5.0 5.1 Heck JE, Meyers TJ, Lombardi C, Park AS, Cockburn M, Reynolds P, Ritz B (August 2013). "Case-control study of birth characteristics and the risk of hepatoblastoma". Cancer Epidemiol. 37 (4): 390–5. doi:10.1016/j.canep.2013.03.004. PMC 3679264. PMID 23558166.
  6. Finegold MJ, Lopez-Terrada DH, Bowen J, Washington MK, Qualman SJ (April 2007). "Protocol for the examination of specimens from pediatric patients with hepatoblastoma". Arch. Pathol. Lab. Med. 131 (4): 520–9. doi:10.1043/1543-2165(2007)131[520:PFTEOS]2.0.CO;2. PMID 17425379.
  7. Mussa A, Duffy KA, Carli D, Ferrero GB, Kalish JM (January 2019). "Defining an optimal time window to screen for hepatoblastoma in children with Beckwith-Wiedemann syndrome". Pediatr Blood Cancer. 66 (1): e27492. doi:10.1002/pbc.27492. PMID 30270492.
  8. Curia MC, Zuckermann M, De Lellis L, Catalano T, Lattanzio R, Aceto G, Veschi S, Cama A, Otte JB, Piantelli M, Mariani-Costantini R, Cetta F, Battista P (January 2008). "Sporadic childhood hepatoblastomas show activation of beta-catenin, mismatch repair defects and p53 mutations". Mod. Pathol. 21 (1): 7–14. doi:10.1038/modpathol.3800977. PMID 17962810.
  9. 9.0 9.1 9.2 9.3 Hiyama E (October 2014). "Pediatric hepatoblastoma: diagnosis and treatment". Transl Pediatr. 3 (4): 293–9. doi:10.3978/j.issn.2224-4336.2014.09.01. PMC 4728840. PMID 26835349.
  10. Allan BJ, Parikh PP, Diaz S, Perez EA, Neville HL, Sola JE (October 2013). "Predictors of survival and incidence of hepatoblastoma in the paediatric population". HPB (Oxford). 15 (10): 741–6. doi:10.1111/hpb.12112. PMC 3791112. PMID 23600968.
  11. Shelmerdine SC, Roebuck DJ, Towbin AJ, McHugh K (August 2016). "MRI of paediatric liver tumours: How we review and report". Cancer Imaging. 16 (1): 21. doi:10.1186/s40644-016-0083-3. PMC 4986178. PMID 27526937.
  12. Musick SR, Babiker HM. PMID 30521216. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  13. Zhang Q, Ming J, Zhang S, Guo D, Qiu X (2013). "A rare case of adult hepatoblastoma with neuroendocrine differentiation misdiagnosed as neuroendocrine tumor". Int J Clin Exp Pathol. 6 (2): 308–13. PMC 3544231. PMID 23330017.
  14. Aronson DC, Meyers RL (October 2016). "Malignant tumors of the liver in children". Semin. Pediatr. Surg. 25 (5): 265–275. doi:10.1053/j.sempedsurg.2016.09.002. PMID 27955729.
  15. Pham TA, Gallo AM, Concepcion W, Esquivel CO, Bonham CA (December 2015). "Effect of Liver Transplant on Long-term Disease-Free Survival in Children With Hepatoblastoma and Hepatocellular Cancer". JAMA Surg. 150 (12): 1150–8. doi:10.1001/jamasurg.2015.1847. PMID 26308249.
  16. Reyes JD, Carr B, Dvorchik I, Kocoshis S, Jaffe R, Gerber D, Mazariegos GV, Bueno J, Selby R (June 2000). "Liver transplantation and chemotherapy for hepatoblastoma and hepatocellular cancer in childhood and adolescence". J. Pediatr. 136 (6): 795–804. PMID 10839879.
  17. Häberle B, Bode U, von Schweinitz D (2003). "[Differentiated treatment protocols for high- and standard-risk hepatoblastoma--an interim report of the German Liver Tumor Study HB99]". Klin Padiatr (in German). 215 (3): 159–65. doi:10.1055/s-2003-39375. PMID 12778356.
  18. Uchida H, Sakamoto S, Sasaki K, Takeda M, Hirata Y, Fukuda A, Hishiki T, Irie R, Nakazawa A, Miyazaki O, Nosaka S, Kasahara M (December 2018). "Surgical treatment strategy for advanced hepatoblastoma: Resection versus transplantation". Pediatr Blood Cancer. 65 (12): e27383. doi:10.1002/pbc.27383. PMID 30084209.