Management and Long-Term Outcomes of Patients With Hepatic Epithelioid Hemangioendothelioma.

Background and objectives: Hepatic epithelioid hemangioendothelioma (HEHE) is an uncommon vascular neoplasm characterized by variable clinical behavior. Our aim was to describe the therapeutic approach for HEHE at diagnosis and define clinicopathological characteristics associated with tumor progression and long-term survival.

Methods: This is a retrospective study that includes patients with HEHE who received treatment at Mayo Clinic Rochester between 1984 and 2023.

Results: Eighty patients were included in the study (median age: 44 years; 62.5% female), 24 underwent liver transplantation, 26 underwent liver resection, and 30 were managed medically. The 3-year overall survival rates were 86.7%, 80.9%, and 51.1%, respectively. Notably, 26 patients had extrahepatic metastases at the time of diagnosis, four (16.7%) in the transplantation group, four (15.4%) in the resection group, and 18 (69.2%) in the nonsurgical group. On multivariable modeling, bone metastasis was independently associated with long-term mortality (HR 6.3, p < 0.001) while lung metastasis and surgical intervention were not associated with long-term mortality (HR 0.8, p = 0.8; HR 1.1, p = 0.9, respectively).

Conclusion: Bone metastasis emerged as a strong predictor of poor survival. Hence, aggressive surgical intervention may not be advantageous in patients with skeletal metastases but can still be offered for those with other extrahepatic metastases.