J Pediatr Surg 1996 Nov;31(11):1563-7

Unresectable hepatic tumors in childhood and the role of liver transplantation

Achilleos OA, Buist LJ, Kelly DA, Raafat F, McMaster P, Mayer AD, Buckels JA

Abstract
Liver transplantation has been performed in five children with unresectable
hepatic tumors who did not have extrahepatic metastases at the time of surgery.
Two of the children had hepatoblastomas, one had an infantile
hemangioendothelioma, and two had a hepatoma. The two children who had
hepatoblastoma are well (37 and 25 months posttransplant) and have no evidence
of recurrence. The child with infantile hemangioendothelioma had a successful
operation, with good quality of life, but died of tumor recurrence 41 months
after transplantation. Both children with hepatomas died, one of graft failure
owing to chronic rejection and the other of tumor recurrence 5 months
posttransplant. These results suggest that liver transplantation may be
successful in children with unresectable hepatic tumors without extrahepatic
spread and should be considered particularly for the treatment of
hepatoblastoma