Critical review of controversial issues in the management of advanced pediatric liver tumors.

ABSTRACT

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and hepatoblastoma (HB) are the most common primary tumors of liver in children. The management of patients with locally advanced, unresectable disease or those with extra-hepatic distant metastases provides substantial challenges to pediatric oncologists, hepatologists, and surgeons. Herein, we critically debate the two sides of three specific controversies (1) the role of chemotherapy in the treatment of advanced pediatric HCC; (2) the indications for liver transplantation in children with HCC, specifically, the appropriateness of using adult Milan criteria; and (3) the role of liver trasplantation in children with unresectable HB that present with metastatic disease. Pediatr Blood Cancer 2011;561013-1018. © 2010 Wiley-Liss, Inc.