A Surgical Case of Solitary Paraaortic Lymph Node Recurrence of Hepatocellular Carcinoma following Radiofrequency Ablation Therapy

Takashi Hama, Kazuhisa Uchiyama, Masaji Tani and Hiroki Yamaue

Second Department of Surgery, Wakayama Medical University, School of Medicine

We report a rare surgical case of solitary paraaortic lymph node recurrence in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) following radiofrequency ablation. A 72-year-old man who had undergone percutaneous ethanol injection therapy twice and radiofrequency ablation therapy three times for HCC suffered rising serum AFP 3 months after radiofrequency ablation therapy. After 8 months, abdominal CT showed a swollen solitary paraaortic lymph node 35 mm in size. The patient had no recurrence in the liver or other organs. Under a diagnosis of solitary HCC recurrence, we excised the lymph node. The elastic soft, capsulated 31×17 mm tumor was found pathologically to be recurrent HCC. Postoperatively, serum AFP decreased immediately to within normal limits. The man remains alive and recurrence-free in the 3 years and 9 months after surgery. We report a rare case of solitary paraaortic lymph node recurrence with a review of the literature.

Key words
hepatocellular carcinoma, lymph node recurrence, radiofrequency ablation therapy

Reprint requests
Takashi Hama Second Department of Surgery, Wakayama Medical University, School of Medicine
811-1 Kimiidera, Wakayama, 641-8510 JAPAN

Accepted
July 23, 2008

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