Resection of giant liver hemangioma in a pregnant woman with coagulopathy: Case report and literature review

Background: Hemangioma is a common benign tumor in the liver and usually asymptomatic. Scanty evidence concerning treatment modality of symptomatic hemangioma during pregnancy exists. Case: A 35 year-old woman with giant hepatic cavernous hemangioma developed consumption coagulopathy due to the enlarged tumor, and underwent danaparoid therapy from 5 weeks of gestation (GW). Magnetic resonance image revealed giant hemangioma with 20 cm in diameter in the right lobe of the liver. A surgical operation of liver resection was successfully performed at 16 GW. Thereafter, the coagulopathy disappeared. She delivered a healthy male infant at 36 GW. Conclusion: This is the first case report of surgical resection therapy for giant liver hemangioma during pregnancy

Surgical spacer placement and proton radiotherapy for unresectable hepatocellular carcinoma

Few potentially curative treatment options exist apart from hepatic resection for patients with huge hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Proton radiotherapy is a promising new modality which has an inherent anti-tumor effect against HCC. However, the application of proton radiotherapy for tumors adjacent to the gastrointestinal tract is restricted because the tolerance dose of the intestine is extremely low. A novel two-step treatment was developed with surgical spacer placement and subsequent proton radiotherapy to administer proton radiotherapy with curative intent. This report presents a case of a patient with a huge unresectable HCC treated by this method who achieved disease-free survival of more than 2 years. This new strategy may potentially be an innovative and standard therapy for unresectable HCC in the near future