Liver transplantation for neuroendocrine cancer
Liver transplantation can theoretically cure cancers which are slow growing and may be restricted to the liver at the time of transplantation. It can cure, for example, some hepatocellular carcinomas. Liver transplantation for the treatment of metastatic neuroendocrine tumors (NETs) has a several decade history and also results in an occasional cure. The reported experience with transplantation for NETs is limited to about 150 cases with widely varying results and few 5-year disease-free survivors. According to a 2010 Consensus recommendation, “liver transplantation can be considered in young patients (below 50 years of age) when the primary tumour originates in the gastrointestinal tract, is drained by the venous portal system, and has been previously removed with curative intent, and when disease progression is controlled for at least 6 months before transplantation.” NCCN does not list liver transplantation as an appropriate option in its 2012 guideline.
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