Case Report
Copyright ©2007 Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Gastroenterol. Oct 28, 2007; 13(40): 5413-5415
Published online Oct 28, 2007. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v13.i40.5413
Positron emission tomography/computer tomography in guidance of extrahepatic hepatocellular carcinoma metastasis management
Long Sun, Yong-Song Guan, Wei-Ming Pan, Gui-Bing Chen, Zuo-Ming Luo, Hua Wu
Long Sun, Wei-Ming Pan, Gui-Bing Chen, Zuo-Ming Luo, Hua Wu, Minnan PET Center, The First Hospital of Xiamen, Fujian Medical University, Xiamen 316003, Fujian Province, China
Yong-Song Guan, West China Hospital of Sichuan University; State Key Laboratory of Biotherapy, West China Medical School, Sichuan University, Gaopeng Street, Keyuan Road 4, Chengdu 610041, Sichuan Province, China
Author contributions: All authors contributed equally to the work.
Correspondence to: Hua Wu, Minnan PET Center, The First Hospital of Xiamen, Fujian Medical University, Xiamen 316003, Fujian Province, China. wuhuaa@hotmail.com
Telephone: +86-592-2139521 Fax: +86-592-2139521
Received: June 29, 2007
Revised: July 9, 2007
Accepted: August 19, 2007
Published online: October 28, 2007
Abstract

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is one of the most common primary cancers in the world. Surgery is the gold standard for treatment of patients with HCC. Recurrence and metastasis are the major obstacles to further improve the prognosis of HCC. Most recurrences are intrahepatic. However, 30% of the recurrences are extrahepatic. The role of resection in intrahepatic recurrences is widely accepted. The role of resection in extrahepatic HCC recurrence and metastasis is not well established. 18F fluorodeoxyglucose (18F-FDG) positron emission tomography/computer tomography (PET/CT) is useful in detecting distant metastasis from a variety of malignancies and shows superior accuracy to conventional imaging modalities in identification of intrahepatic and extrahepatic metastasis. We present one patient with one new isolated omental lymph node metastasis, who had a history of huge HCC resected six years ago. The metastatic focus was identified with 18 F-FDG PET/CT and resected. The follow-up revealed good prognosis with a long-term survival potential after resection of the omental lymphatic metastasis.

Keywords: Fluorodeoxyglucose; Positron emission tomography/computer tomography; Huge hepatocellular carcinoma; Omental node metastasis; Extrahepatic metastasis