Significance of reduction surgery in multidisciplinary treatment of advanced hepatocellular carcinoma with multiple intrahepatic metastases : A case report

We report a case of advanced HCC with multiple intrahepatic metastases who obtained long-term survival by reductive hepatic resection as part of a multidisciplinary treatment. The patient was a 75-year-old man who had HCC, 13.5 cm in diameter in the right lobe of the liver with multiple intrahepatic metastases around the main tumor and 7 intrahepatic metastases in the left lobe of the liver. The large main tumor and intrahepatic metastases around the main tumor were initially resected by right lobectomy as reduction surgery. Transcatheter arterial chemoembolization (TACE) with epirubicin for intrahepatic metastases in the remnant liver was started 1 month after initial hepatectomy and repeated every 3 months. Twelve months after initial hepatectomy, lung metastases appeared, so we started systemic chemotherapy with 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) and cisplatin (CDDP). In addition, we changed epirubicin to CDDP for TACE. Despite this combination therapy, 20 months after the initial hepatectomy, the lung metastases showed an increase in size. We decided to discontinue systemic chemotherapy and administer sorafenib. The patient was alive without progression of intrahepatic metastasis and lung metastasis more than 26 months after the initial hepatectomy