Multimodal Therapy including Yttrium-90 Radioembolization as a Bridging Therapy to Liver Transplantation for a Huge and Locally Advanced Intrahepatic Cholangiocarcinoma

Abstract

Treatment of intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma remains a major challenge. For an unresectable lesion without extrahepatic spread, liver transplantation could be a potential solution but it is still associated with poor oncologic results owing to the absence of effective neoadjuvant treatment. We report the case of a young man with locally advanced intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma presenting with multiple intrahepatic metastases and vascular structure involvement. The lesion was significantly downstaged by a multimodal therapy including intra-arterial Yttrium-90 radioembolization, systemic chemotherapy and external radiotherapy, allowing liver transplantation. Three years after the procedure, oncologic outcome is excellent with no sign of recurrence.
Multimodal therapy including Yttrium-90 radioembolization could be relevant as neoadjuvant treatment before liver transplantation for unresectable intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma.

Abbrevations: CA 19-9: carbohydrate antigen 19-9; FDG-PET: fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography; HCC: hepatocellular carcinoma; ICC: intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma; LT: liver transplantation; MRI: magnetic resonance imaging; PHC: perihilar cholangiocarcinoma; Ytt-90: Yttrium-90.