Survival Outcomes in Patients with Hepatoblastoma: Who has the Greatest Chance of Surviving?

Background and Objective: Hepatoblastoma (HB) is the most common malignant liver tumor in children. This study aimed to review the survival outcomes of HB at Srinagarind hospital. Method: All children diagnosed with HB between 2003 and 2016 were included. The demographic data and outcomes were reviewed, and the survival outcome was analyzed. Results: There were 47 patients diagnosed with HB. After excluded 4 incompletes recorded, 43 cases were calculated. The median age at diagnosis was 1.08-year (19 days to 13.8 years). The number of patients with PRETEXT III and IV were 15 (34.8%) and 10 (23.3%), respectively. Eleven patients (25.6%) came with distant metastasis at the time of diagnosis. Only 6 patients (14%) underwent liver resection without pre-op chemotherapy. The other received pre-op chemotherapy. Still, 16.3% remains unresectable. The median follow-up was 3.18 years (1.83 months to 11.03 years). The overall 5-year survival rate in the hepatoblastoma patients in our study was 63.21%. The overall 5-year survival and disease-free survival rates in operable patients were 75.21% and 72.8%, respectively. Patients who lived longer than 3 years after surgery, survived. The 5-year survival rate for the patients who do not require chemotherapy before surgery was 100% whereas the other group had 56.24%. Moreover, we found that the non-recurrent group had a significantly higher survival rate compared to the recurrent group (p = 0.0017).Conclusions: The overall survival rate in hepatoblastoma patients appeared to be higher including our country, and patients who lived longer than 3 years were likely to survive. The recurrence of hepatoblastoma significantly impacted the survival rate.