Pathologically Confirmed Spontaneous Partial Regression of Hepatocellular
Carcinoma

Yoo, Jeong-Ju; Lee, Jeong-Hoon; Lee, Kyung Boon; Koh, Jae Moon; Lee, Minjong; Choi, Young Hoon; Yoon, Jung-Hwan

doi:2014.86.2.198

Korean J Med > Volume 86(2); 2014 > Article

Case Report

The Korean Journal of Medicine 2014;86(2):198-203.
Published online February 1, 2014.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3904/kjm.2014.86.2.198

Pathologically Confirmed Spontaneous Partial Regression of Hepatocellular Carcinoma

Jeong-Ju Yoo¹, Jeong-Hoon Lee¹, Kyung Boon Lee², Jae Moon Koh², Minjong Lee¹, Young Hoon Choi¹, Jung-Hwan Yoon¹

¹Department of Internal Medicine, Liver Research Institute, Seoul National University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea
²Department of Pathology, Seoul National University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea

병리조직학적으로 진단된 부분적 자발 퇴행 간암 환자 1예

유정주¹, 이정훈¹, 이경분², 고재문², 이민종¹, 최영훈¹, 윤정환¹

^¹서울대학교 의과대학 내과학교실, 간연구소
^²서울대학교 의과대학 병리학교실

Correspondence:
Jeong-Hoon Lee, Tel: +82-2-2072-2228, Fax: +82-2-743-6701, Email: pindra@empal.com

Received: 7 June 2013 • Revised: 29 July 2013 • Accepted: 5 August 2013

This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/) which permits unrestricted noncommercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Abstract

Spontaneous regression of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is extremely rare, and dozens of cases have been reported in the literature. In this report, we present a case of pathologically confirmed HCC that partially regressed without medical intervention. A 54-year-old Korean male with chronic hepatitis B had a hepatic mass detected by abdominal ultrasonography during a routine visit. A clinical diagnosis of HCC was made after measuring serum α-fetoprotein levels followed by dynamic computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging. The patient delayed surgical resection; however, after 5 months, the size of the HCC decreased from 3.2 to 1.0 cm in diameter without any treatment. At that time the mass was surgically resected. Histopathology confirmed that the hepatic mass was consistent with partially regressed HCC and showed more intra- and peri-tumoral lymphocytes consisting of greater CD4+ T cell infiltration than what is normally seen in resected HCC. (Korean J Med 2014;86:198-203)

Key Words: Carcinoma, hepatocellular; Neoplasm regression, spontaneous; Lymphocytes

주제어: 간암; 퇴행; 림프구