A case report of recurrent hepatocellular carcinoma treated by radiotherapy

Abstract

A 77-year-old man who was being followed up at a local hospital after partial colectomy for ascending colon cancer was referred to our hospital for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) treatment. Eight months after partial hepatectomy, obstructive jaundice was observed because of local recurrence of HCC. The patient received radiotherapy after endoscopic nasal biliary drainage. Endoscopy after radiotherapy revealed good bile discharge from the papilla Vater. The patient is still alive at 22 months after radiotherapy without local recurrence. The efficacy of radiotherapy for HCC has not been clarified, and there are no published guidelines for radiotherapy. There is also no fixed standard for evaluation of the remnant hepatic reserve after radiotherapy. However, there have been some case reports in recent years on the efficacy of radiotherapy for HCC, and it is thought that radiotherapy may become one of the effective modalities in the multidisciplinary treatment of HCC.