Adult primary liver sarcoma: systematic review

Primary hepatic angiosarcoma: a systematic review

Background

Hepatic angiosarcoma is a rare type of tumour. In adults, the diagnosis remains challenging as the clinical manifestations are generally nonspecific and are usually made too late when complications or metastases are already present, associated with a poor prognosis. Due to the lack of agreement regarding the optimal treatment approach, a comprehensive analysis of the evidence in the literature on the surgical and survival outcomes in terms of disease-free survival time (DFS) and overall survival (OS) for patients treated for primary hepatic angiosarcoma is needed.

Study design

A systematic review of articles published in Pubmed, EMBASE, and Scopus, from 2000 to 2023 with the search terms hepatic angiosarcoma and liver resection or hepatectomy. Pooled individual data concerning the prognosis following various therapies was analyzed.

Results

A total of 15 articles involving 886 patients were eligible for inclusion. The male population represents 66.2% (n=586) of the population, with a median age of 57 years (41-66). The median survival rate was 7 months. The median OS after surgical resection was 17.18 months (SD 12.6) vs. 3.72 months (SD 4.6) for patients treated without a surgical approach. The median DFS was 15.2 months (SD 11).

Conclusion

Primary liver angiosarcoma remains a surgical challenge with a poor prognosis even with complete surgical resection and adjuvant therapy. Surgical management shows increased overall survival in comparison with non-surgical management. Early diagnosis could change the natural history of the disease. The literature available is scarce, and further studies are required to create standardized diagnostic and treatment protocols.

Embryonal Sarcoma of the Liver in the Adult: Challenges in the Diagnosis of a Rare Entity

Introduction

Embryonal sarcoma of the liver (ESL) is a rare neoplasm of the liver occurring mainly in paediatric ages. Making the correct diagnosis can be challenging as the laboratory and radiological findings that are often nonspecific, and the tumour immunophenotype is poorly defined and even somewhat variable.

Case Presentation

A large epigastric mass was detected in a computerized tomography scan of a 43-year-old woman presenting with abdominal pain and bloating. The mass was biopsied and submitted to histopathological study. Microscopically the tumour had sarcomatoid features and showed multinucleated cells with periodic acid-Schiff (PAS)-positive globules. Immunostaining revealed positivity for vimentin, CD10, glypican-3, and α1-antitrypsin and negativity for keratins, muscle, adipocytic, and melanocytic differentiation markers. The patient was then submitted to a left hepatectomy with similar histological findings.

Discussion

ESL in adults is a rarity and its diagnosis requires the exclusion of other entities. While some microscopic features are very common, they remain nonspecific. The main feature is the presence of multinucleated cells with PAS-positive hyaline globules. While ancillary testing is key, the immunophenotype also lacks specificity and ESL may have variable staining for glypican-3 and epithelial or muscle differentiation markers. Although it has been described for more than 3 decades, the prognosis and optimal treatment are still not well defined, but surgery has yielded favourable results.

Efficacy and Safety of Trans-Arterial Yttrium-90 Radioembolization in Patients with Unresectable Liver-Dominant Metastatic or Primary Hepatic Soft Tissue Sarcomas

Simple Summary

Sarcomas of the liver are a rare and aggressive group of malignancies for which surgery is the preferred treatment modality even though most patients are not surgical candidates and receive chemotherapy with poor outcomes. In these cases, trans-arterial liver-directed therapies are emerging as a new treatment option. Among these, radioembolization is a promising but understudied treatment option. In radioembolization, microbeads conjugated to a radioactive drug are injected into the blood vessels, nourishing the cancers and leading to cell death and tumor shrinkage. In this study, we retrospectively analyzed 35 patients with liver sarcomas receiving radioembolization at our institution. We found that those with disease control in the liver 6 months after the procedure had longer overall survival as well as patients with a liver progression-free interval post-procedure equal to or greater than 9 months. Patients with good performance status and normal liver function at baseline also had longer survival. The most common adverse reactions were nausea, fatigue, abdominal pain, and mild reversible abnormalities in liver function tests. Overall, our results suggest that radioembolization might be a safe and effective treatment option for patients with unresectable liver sarcomas.

Abstract

Patients with liver-dominant metastatic or primary hepatic soft tissue sarcomas (STS) have poor prognosis. Surgery can prolong survival, but most patients are not surgical candidates, and treatment response is limited with systemic chemotherapy. Liver-directed therapies have been increasingly employed in this setting, and Yttrium-90 trans-arterial radioembolization (TARE) is an understudied yet promising treatment option. This is a retrospective analysis of 35 patients with metastatic or primary hepatic STS who underwent TARE at a single institution between 2006 and 2020. The primary outcomes that were measured were overall survival (OS), liver progression-free survival (LPFS), and radiologic tumor response. Clinical and biochemical toxicities were assessed 3 months after the procedure. Median OS was 20 months (95% CI: 13.9–26.1 months), while median LPFS was 9 months (95% CI: 6.2–11.8 months). The objective response rate was 56.7%, and the disease control rate was 80.0% by mRECIST at 3 months. The following correlated with better OS post-TARE: liver disease control (DC) at 6 months (median OS: 40 vs. 17 months, p = 0.007); LPFS ≥ 9 months (median OS: 50 vs. 8 months, p < 0.0001); ECOG status 0–1 vs. 2 (median OS: 22 vs. 6 months, p = 0.042); CTP class A vs. B (median OS: 22 vs. 6 months, p = 0.018); and TACE post-progression (median OS: 99 vs. 16 months, p = 0.003). The absence of metastases at diagnosis was correlated with higher median LPFS (7 vs. 1 months, p = 0.036). Two grade 4 (5.7%) and ten grade 3 (28.6%) laboratory toxicities were identified at 3 months. There was one case of radioembolization-induced liver disease and two cases of radiation-induced peptic ulcer disease. We concluded that TARE could be an effective and safe treatment option for patients with metastatic or primary hepatic STS with good tumor response rates, low incidence of severe toxicity, and longer survival in patients with liver disease control post-TARE.