Abstract
Background: Most of the reports on tumor relapse are recurrence of the same type of tumor after months to few years of a successful initial cancer treatment. It is generally unusual and unexpected that a different type of the second tumor occurs after several decades of the curative treatment of the original tumor. Case Presentation: We report a case of 74-year-old man with intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (ICC) diagnosed 38 years after curative resection of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). In addition to the uniqueness of longer survival and developed a new type of tumor, both the original HCC and the later occurred ICC were detected through a cancer surveillance program by screening alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) and ultrasonography of the liver for the general population and/or high risk group of people who were asymptomatic. Conclusion: This report provides evidence demonstrating occurrence of new type of tumor following initial curative therapy of the original tumor. In addition, this case report also highlights the importance of cancer surveillance program for earlier detection of the tumors to achieve a remarkably improved prognosis of the cancer patients for a prolonged cancer free survival time.
Highlights
Primary liver cancer is the fifth most common cancer in men and the eighth most common cancer in women worldwide
Case Presentation: We report a case of 74-year-old man with intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (ICC) diagnosed 38 years after curative resection of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC)
In countries of East Asia and Africa, primarily infection of hepatitis B virus (HBV) or exposure to aflatoxin B is considered as the major etiological factor of liver cancer, whereas infection of hepatitis C virus (HCV), alcoholic and non-alcoholic liver diseases might be responsible for driving liver cancer in the regions of North America and Europe
Summary
Primary liver cancer is the fifth most common cancer in men and the eighth most common cancer in women worldwide. Previous epidemiologic studies have revealed that the incidence rate of liver cancer is much higher in East Asia and sub-Saharan Africa than in North America and most of Europe [1]. This variation in the incident rate of liver cancer is largely resulted from the complex of different risk factors. In a recent screening of 26,355 people, 64 cases of earlier stage HCC were identified, among which 28 cases were subjected to curative treatment by surgical resection and 20 cases received transcatheter arterial chemoembolization therapy [4]. We re-screened 90 patients who had been survived for more than 10 years after HCC resection and identified a case of ICC from a patient who had been survived for 38 years since the curative HCC resection
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