Treatment of Hepatic Epithelioid Hemangioendothelioma: Finding Uses for Thalidomide in a New Era of Medicine
Hepatic epithelioid hemangioendothelioma (HEH) is extremely rare, occurring in 1 to 2 per 100,000, with chemotherapy options not well defined. Our case involved a 49-year-old female who had hepatic masses and metastasis to the lungs with a liver biopsy revealing HEH. After developing a rash from sor...
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Published in | Case reports in gastrointestinal medicine Vol. 2015; no. 2015; pp. 1 - 4 |
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Main Authors | , , , , , |
Format | Journal Article |
Language | English |
Published |
Cairo, Egypt
Hindawi Publishing Corporation
01.01.2015
Hindawi Limited |
Subjects | |
Online Access | Get full text |
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Summary: | Hepatic epithelioid hemangioendothelioma (HEH) is extremely rare, occurring in 1 to 2 per 100,000, with chemotherapy options not well defined. Our case involved a 49-year-old female who had hepatic masses and metastasis to the lungs with a liver biopsy revealing HEH. After developing a rash from sorafenib, thalidomide was started with the progression of disease stabilized. Resection is only an option in 10% of the cases; therefore, chemotherapy is the only line of treatment. Newer chemotherapy alternatives are targeting angiogenesis via the vascular endothelial growth factor. Thalidomide was first used as an antiemetic, but, sadly, soon linked to phocomelia birth defects. Given the mechanism of action against angiogenesis, thalidomide has a valid role in vascular tumors. In conclusion, the use of thalidomide as chemotherapy is novel and promising, especially in the setting of a rare vascular liver tumor such as HEH. |
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Bibliography: | ObjectType-Article-1 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-2 content type line 23 Academic Editor: Gregory Kouraklis |
ISSN: | 2090-6528 2090-6536 |
DOI: | 10.1155/2015/326795 |