Effectiveness of Chemotherapy on Long-Term Survival in a Case of Advanced Juvenile Hepatocellular Carcinoma Without Viral Hepatitis Infection

Cureus. 2024 Jan 31;16(1):e53278. doi: 10.7759/cureus.53278. eCollection 2024 Jan.

Abstract

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) usually occurs in settings of cirrhosis and chronic hepatitis B or C virus (HBV and HCV, respectively) infection; it is extremely rare in patients <40 years of age since viral- or alcohol-induced chronic hepatitis develops over a prolonged period. Juvenile HCC is mostly associated with persistent HBV infection; cases unrelated to HBV or HCV infection (non-B, non-C juvenile HCC) are sporadic and treated in the same way as classical HCC. A woman in her late 30s was diagnosed with HCC in a healthy liver; her imaging findings were typical of HCC with bone metastasis. She was administered a combination of tyrosine kinase inhibitors, immune checkpoint inhibitors, and vascular endothelial growth factor inhibitors. Throughout chemotherapy, the liver reserve was Grade A on the Child-Pugh classification and tumor markers remained under control without marked elevation. Our patient is the first reported long-term survivor of unresectable non-B, non-C juvenile HCC following chemotherapeutic treatment.

Keywords: alpha-fetoproteins; antinuclear antibodies; chemotherapy response; hepatocellular carcinoma (hcc); non-b non-c juvenile hepatocellular carcinoma.

Publication types

  • Case Reports