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Upregulation of des-gamma-carboxy-prothrombin after portal vein embolization in a cirrhotic patient with hepatocellular carcinoma

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Abstract

A 73-year-old female with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) received percutaneous transhepatic portal vein embolization (PTPE) before extensive right lobe hepatectomy. Serum levels of des-gamma-carboxy-prothrombin (DCP) were increased and remained at a high level until hepatectomy. Immunohistochemical examination revealed that an increased expression of DCP was demonstrated not only in HCC tissues, but also in the non-cancerous liver of the right lobe, where portal blood flow was blocked off as a result of PTPE. The serum level of DCP is known to be greatly increased in patients with HCC accompanied by portal vein invasion. We speculate that this increased DCP level is caused by both increased DCP production in HCC tissue and the surrounding non-cancerous liver, where portal flow is blocked off as a result of portal invasion by HCC.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Gastroenterology, Faculty of Medicine, Fukuoka University, Fukuoka, Japan

    Tetsuro Sohda, Kaoru Iwata, Akira Anan, Hideo Kunimoto, Kaoru Yotsumoto, Keiji Yokoyama, Daisuke Morihara, Yasuaki Takeyama & Satoshi Shakado

  2. Department of Radiology, Faculty of Medicine, Fukuoka University, Fukuoka, Japan

    Akinobu Osame, Shinichi Kora & Kengo Yoshimitsu

  3. Department of Gastroenterological Surgery, Faculty of Medicine, Fukuoka University, Fukuoka, Japan

    Jun Ohishi, Yasushi Yamauchi, Tomoaki Noritomi, Yuichi Yamashita & Shotaro Sakisaka

Authors
  1. Tetsuro Sohda
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  2. Kaoru Iwata
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  3. Akira Anan
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  4. Hideo Kunimoto
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  5. Kaoru Yotsumoto
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  7. Daisuke Morihara
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  8. Yasuaki Takeyama
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  9. Satoshi Shakado
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  10. Akinobu Osame
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  11. Shinichi Kora
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  12. Jun Ohishi
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  13. Yasushi Yamauchi
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  14. Tomoaki Noritomi
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  15. Kengo Yoshimitsu
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  16. Yuichi Yamashita
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  17. Shotaro Sakisaka
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Tetsuro Sohda.

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Conflict of Interest:

Tetsuro Sohda, Kaoru Iwata, Akira Anan, Hideo Kunimoto, Kaoru Yotsumoto, Keiji Yokoyama, Daisuke Morihara, Yasuaki Takeyama, Satoshi Shakado, Akinobu Osame, Shinichi Kora, Jun Ohishi, Yasushi Yamauchi, Tomoaki Noritomi, Kengo Yoshimitsu, Yuichi Yamashita, and Shotaro Sakisaka declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Human/Animal Rights:

All procedures followed were in accordance with the ethical standards of the responsible committee on human experimentation (institutional and national) and with the Helsinki Declaration of 1975, as revised in 2008(5).

Informed Consent:

Informed consent was obtained from all patients for being included in the study.

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Sohda, T., Iwata, K., Anan, A. et al. Upregulation of des-gamma-carboxy-prothrombin after portal vein embolization in a cirrhotic patient with hepatocellular carcinoma. Clin J Gastroenterol 8, 330–334 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12328-015-0603-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12328-015-0603-x

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