CASE REPORT article
Front. Oncol.
Sec. Gastrointestinal Cancers: Hepato Pancreatic Biliary Cancers
Volume 15 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fonc.2025.1591419
This article is part of the Research TopicBasic and Clinical Research on Surgical Treatment and Targeted Immunotherapy for Liver CancerView all 4 articles
Curative Response to Combined Targeted-Immunotherapy for Post-Hepatectomy Lymph Node Metastasis in Sarcomatoid Hepatocellular Carcinoma: Case Report and Literature Review
Provisionally accepted
- 1Department of Hepatobiliary Surgery, The First People's Hospital of Neijiang, Neijiang, China
- 2Department of Hepatobiliary Surgery, The People's Hospital of Neijiang Dongxing District, Neijiang, China
- 3Department of Radiology, The First People's Hospital of Neijiang, Neijiang, China
- 4Department of Pathology, The First People's Hospital of Neijiang, Neijiang, China
- 5Department of Oncology, The First People's Hospital of Neijiang, Neijiang, China
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Sarcomatoid hepatocellular carcinoma (SHC) is an aggressive malignancy with poor therapeutic outcomes. Current evidence supports radical surgical resection as the primary treatment modality, yet it is associated with prohibitively high postoperative recurrence rates. We report the clinical course of a 66-year-old male diagnosed with SHC. A hepatic mass (4.1 × 2.7 × 4.4 cm) was incidentally detected during routine health screening. The patient underwent laparoscopic right posterior sectionectomy, with histopathological confirmation of SHC. Superior mesenteric lymphadenopathy suspicious for metastasis developed 1 month postoperatively. Prophylactic transarterial chemoembolization was initiated, followed by 6-month tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI) therapy, achieving disease stabilization. However, lymph nodes progression occurred after TKI discontinuation, confirming metastatic involvement. Subsequent combined therapy (a TKI and an anti-PD-1 antibody) was administered. Notably, the patient self-discontinued treatment after two cycles, yet subsequent imaging revealed complete resolution of metastatic lymphadenopathy. No additional antitumor therapy has been administered, and the patient remains recurrence-free with 18-month overall survival confirmed by recent radiographic surveillance.
Keywords: Sarcomatoid hepatocellular carcinoma, TKI, Anti-PD-1 antibody, Liver tumor, targeted-immunotherapy
Received: 11 Mar 2025; Accepted: 04 Sep 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Liu, Zhang, Xin, Jing, Wen, Xiang and Liu. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Shun-Hai Liu, Department of Hepatobiliary Surgery, The First People's Hospital of Neijiang, Neijiang, China
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