My friend's baby who is 6 months is diagnosed with hepatoblastoma i.e liver cancer. According to the doctor, it's a very rare disease. The baby was born normal and did not show any symptons of illness. Her peditrician noted abnormality on her stomach (swelling) and ordered her parents to do full check-up and later she was diagnosed with the disease. She is now under chemotherapy. How does this disease starts and happens to such a small baby? Here is a very easy to understand link about
this condition that will answer your questions:
http://www.healthsystem.virginia.edu/uva...
Here is a more advanced link, which is a little
harder to understand:
http://www.emedicine.com/ped/topic982.ht...
Here is another little baby that had this tumor
and they state here what was done and her
story.
http://lindseyann.net/default.aspx
I hope these articles are some help in understanding more about this happening in
babies. http://www.merck.com/mmhe/sec10/ch139/ch...
Here is some good information on it, and it is accurate and up to date. Hepatoblastoma is an uncommon malignant liver neoplasm occurring in infants and children and composed of tissue resembling fetal or mature liver cells or bile ducts. They usually present with an abdominal mass. Elevated alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) counts are commonly found. Surgical resection, adjuvant chemotherapy prior to resection, and liver transplantation have been used to treat these neoplasms. | 