Favorable response to multimodal treatment in hepatocellular carcinoma with inferior vena cava and right atrial tumor thrombus and left adrenal gland metastasis: A case report and literature review

Abstract

Rationale: Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the fourth most common cause of cancer-related deaths and the sixth most commonly diagnosed cancer globally. Interdisciplinary and multimodal treatment strategies are essential for a successful therapy in HCC. Established therapies for HCC treatment include surgical resection, liver transplantation, local ablative therapies, transarterial chemoembolization (TACE), tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs), immunotherapy, and radiotherapy (RT).

Patient concerns: A 52-year-old male patient did an ultrasound scan and found a large mass within the right lobe of the liver and gallstones in December 2018. He had a history of chronic hepatitis C virus infection (30 years) and was treated with sofosbuvir (400 mg, q.d.) for 1 year. The patient never had any symptoms of gallstones. Enhanced abdominal computed tomography of this patient showed a heterogeneous irregular mass with the largest measurement of up to 13.7 × 11.1 cm in size in the right lobe of the liver, meanwhile also had inferior vena cava (IVC) tumor thrombus, right atrial (RA) tumor thrombus, and left adrenal gland metastasis. The laboratory test data revealed that the serum tumor marker α-fetoprotein was 2.63 ng/mL, cancer antigen 19-9 (CA 19-9) was 34.40 U/mL, and protein induced by Vitamin K absence was 391.94 mAU/mL.

Diagnosis: HCC with IVC tumor thrombus, RA tumor thrombus, and left adrenal gland metastasis, and gallstones.

Interventions: He was hospitalized and received TACE treatment, oral TKIs, intravenous drip programmed cell death-1 (PD-1) inhibitor and RT.

Outcomes: The patient showed a favorable response after consecutive treatment with TACE, TKIs, PD-1 inhibitor, and RT. Until now, the patient has survived 34 months since the diagnosis of the disease.

Lessons: Our case suggests that TACE combined with TKIs, PD-1 inhibitor, and RT may be a suitable treatment option for advanced HCC patients with IVC tumor thrombus and/or RA tumor thrombus, and/or adrenal gland metastasis.