Hepatoblastoma tumors often secrete a protein called alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) into the blood.
An increase of this protein level in the blood is helpful in making the diagnosis.
Imaging tests such as ultrasound, CT scan and MRI of the belly may also be done.
A final diagnosis is made by biopsy or removal of the tumor..
Hepatoblastomas usually present with as a single, mildly painful, rapidly enlarging abdominal mass that arises in the right lobe of the liver in 55% to 60% of cases. [10] Rapid enlargement of these tumors rarely results in tumor rupture and hemorrhage.
Tumors may reach up to 25 cm in size..
Hepatoblastoma tumors often secrete a protein called alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) into the blood.
An increase of this protein level in the blood is helpful in making the diagnosis.
Imaging tests such as ultrasound, CT scan and MRI of the belly may also be done.
A final diagnosis is made by biopsy or removal of the tumor..
Two main histological types of HB occur: epithelial and mixed epithelial/mesenchymal.
The epithelial type is further divided into subtypes, such as fetal, embryonal, combined fetal and embryonal or macrotrabecular and small cell type..
Serum alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) is the most important clinical marker for HBL, and remains the key clinical marker of malignant change, response to the treatment, and relapse.
However, there are some variants of both HBL and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) that have low or normal AFP levels (4,5)..
The beads are mixed with a substance that blocks the artery, cutting off blood flow to the tumor.
Most of the radiation is trapped near the tumor to kill the cancer cells.
This is done to shrink the tumor or to relieve symptoms and improve quality of life for children with hepatoblastoma.
The pathology of liver tumors, including:
After taking a complete medical history and doing a physical examination of your child, we may use the following tests:
