Background: We encountered on seven malignant hepatocellular tumors developing in older children and adolescents.
Results: These tumors exhibit an unusual phenotype with respect to clinical presentation, histopathology, immunohistochemistry, and treatment response. As a working hypothesis, we suggest that these apparently novel, unusual, and aggressive tumors occurring in older children and adolescents may form a transition in the putative developmental pathway of hepatocarcinogenesis.
Conclusion: We therefore propose the term, transitional liver cell tumors (TLCT), to denote these lesions.
Copyright 2002 Wiley-Liss, Inc.