Infantile Hepatic Hemangioendothelioma : Seventeen Years of Experience at a Single Center

ABSTRACT

Infantile hepatic hemangioendothelioma (IHHE) is the most common benign vascular hepatic tumor in children. We analyzed the 17-year experience of IHHE. The medical records of 16 patients (MF=88) treated at the Department of Pediatric Surgery and the Department of Pediatrics Seoul National University Children's Hospital between January 1991 and January 2008 were reviewed retrospectively. Mean age at presentation was 87 days (1 day-551 days). Seventy five percent of patients were diagnosed with imaging study and 25% with biopsy. Major symptoms were hepatomegaly (N=5), palpable abdominal mass (N=4) and congestive heart failure (N=3). Six patients had no symptoms. Kasabach-Merritt syndrome was combined in one patient. Nine patients (56.3%) underwent operation and 2 patients (12.5%) underwent only medical treatment. Clinical observation was tried on 5 patients (31.3%) without any treatment. Operation was performed on the patient with clinical symptoms or on patients where the differentiation between begin and malignant could not be determined. Patients who had clinical symptoms but tumor was unreresectabile were treated medically. Among the 5 patients who had been observed for their clinical course, 2 patients showed complete regression and the tumors of the remaining 3 patients were regressing. Clinical symptoms, the age at presentation, the size of tumor and alpha-FP, all had no significant statistical relationship with the time required for complete tumor regression. There was no relationship between the size change of the tumor and the change of alpha-FP level. Only the size of tumor was related with clinical symptoms. One patient died of post-operatvie bleeding. Treatment plan was determined by the extent of the tumor and the presence of clinical symptoms. Observation was enough for the patients without clinical symptoms and complete resection was curative for patients with clinical symptoms. Medical treatment is an alternative for the patient whose tumor is unresectable.