Virilizing hepatoblastoma—Significance of alpha-1-fetoprotein and human chorionic gonadotropin as tumor markers in diagnosis and follow-up

Hepatoblastoma was diagnosed in a 12 month old boy presenting with hepatomegaly and isosexual precocious puberty. Preoperative levels of both alpha-l-fetoprotein (AFP) and human chorionic gonadotropin (HCG) were highly elevated. The tumor was removed by hepatic trisegmentectomy. Tumor tissue contained high concentrations of AFP and HCG. On combination chemotherapy with cyclophosphamide (CYC), vincristine (VCR), adriamycin (ADR) and 5-fluoruracil (5-FU) HCG dropped over a period of 9 months to normal values. In contrast, AFP was undetectable following surgery. One year after initiation of therapy there is no clinical or radiological evidence of recurrence of the malignancy but the observation period is too short to draw any conclusions on the effect of therapy and the final outcome.