title: Spontaneous regression of a large hepatocellular carcinoma with multiple lung metastases.
abstract: A 75-year-old Japanese man with chronic hepatitis C was found to have a large liver tumor and multiple nodules in the bilateral lungs. We diagnosed the tumor as hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) with multiple lung metastases based on imaging studies and high titers of HCC tumor markers. Remarkably, without any anticancer treatment or medication, including herbal preparations, the liver tumor decreased in size, and the tumor makers diminished. Moreover, after 1 year, the multiple nodules in the bilateral lungs had disappeared. Fifteen months after the first medical examination, transcatheter arterial chemoembolization (TACE) was performed for the residual HCC. Because local relapse was observed on follow-up computed tomography, a second TACE was performed 13 months after the first one. At 4 years after the second TACE (7 years after the initial medical examination), there was no recurrence of primary or metastatic lesions. Spontaneous regression of HCC is very rare, and its mechanism remains unclear. Understanding the underlying mechanism of this rare phenomenon may offer some hope of finding new therapies, even in advanced metastatic cases.
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, Osaka Koseinenkin Hospital, Osaka, Japan.
authors.forename: Tamiko
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Saito
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, Osaka Koseinenkin Hospital, Osaka, Japan.
authors.forename: Masafumi
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Naito
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, Osaka Koseinenkin Hospital, Osaka, Japan.
authors.forename: Yuki
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Matsumura
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, Osaka Koseinenkin Hospital, Osaka, Japan.
authors.forename: Hisaaki
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Kita
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, Osaka Koseinenkin Hospital, Osaka, Japan.
authors.forename: Tomoyo
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Kanno
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, Osaka Koseinenkin Hospital, Osaka, Japan.
authors.forename: Yuki
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Nakada
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, Osaka Koseinenkin Hospital, Osaka, Japan.
authors.forename: Mina
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hamano
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, Osaka Koseinenkin Hospital, Osaka, Japan.
authors.forename: Miho
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Chiba
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, Osaka Koseinenkin Hospital, Osaka, Japan.
authors.forename: Kosaku
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Maeda
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, Osaka Koseinenkin Hospital, Osaka, Japan.
authors.forename: Tomoki
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Michida
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, Osaka Koseinenkin Hospital, Osaka, Japan.
authors.forename: Toshifumi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Ito
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D006528:Carcinoma, Hepatocellular / Q000473:pathology / Q000556:secondary*; D016461:Chemoembolization, Therapeutic; D006801:Humans; D008113:Liver Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology*; D008175:Lung Neoplasms / Q000556:secondary*; D008297:Male; D009364:Neoplasm Recurrence, Local / Q000473:pathology; D009365:Neoplasm Regression, Spontaneous / Q000473:pathology*; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed
keywords: Carcinoma; Lung metastasis; Neoplasm regression; hepatocellular; spontaneous