Hepatoblastoma is a rare liver tumor that affects children under 3 years old. It typically presents as a golf ball sized tumor in the right lobe of the liver. While the cause is unknown, genetic disorders like Beckwith-Wiedemann syndrome can increase the risk. Treatment depends on the stage, ranging from surgery alone for early stages to chemotherapy and surgery for advanced cases. Without treatment, hepatoblastoma has a 100% fatality rate.

1. Andrew Illhardt
8–9B

2.  Hepatoblastoma only affects
children of 3 years or younger.
 Hepatoblastoma is a tumor that
originates in the liver or
gallbladder and has a potential to
spread to any other organs causing
multiple kinds of cancer.
 This disorder always starts out as a
golf ball sized tumor on the right
lobe of the liver.
 At around 18 months is when it
starts.
 There are about 100 cases
reported of this disorder each year.

3.  Many genetic disorders can lead to
having Hepatoblastoma instead of
the original disorder.
 The main two genetic disorders
that lead to this disease
Beckwith-Wiedemann syndrome
and familial adenomatous
polyposis
 This can be passed to the child
through unknown recessive genes.
 Many disorders can cause
Hepatoblastoma but they don’t
always cause this disease.

4. This picture shows
how big the abdomen
can get.
The most common
symptoms include:
 A large abdominal mass, or
swollen abdomen
 Weight loss
 Decreased appetite
 Abdominal pain.
 Vomiting.
 Jaundice – yellowing of eyes
or skin.
 Fever
 Itching Skin
 Anemia – pale skin and lips
from decreased number of red
blood cells.
 Back pain from compression
of the tumor.

5.  The only “prevention” is to see if
you have the recessive genes
either the disease itself or the
other diseases that causes it.
 If you find out that you have the
mutated genes then the best thing
to do is to not have children. The
chances of this, though, is small.

6. The tumor
has
 Treatment depends on what stage completely
the tumor is at (stage 1, stage consumed the
right half of
2, stage 3, or stage 4) the liver in
 Stage 1: Easily and completely this picture.
removed tumor. This is usually
what stage
 Stage 2: Removed with a little bit three looks
of the tumor left, which is inactive like.
because of a small amount of
chemotherapy.
 Stage 3: Can’t be removed by
surgery alone, must have
chemotherapy (which causes hair
loss) to decrease the size of the
tumor, then the tumor gets
removed, and the patient has to
get medicine to completely kill the
cancer (some studies show that
chemotherapy causes hearing loss
though it’s not completely proven.)
 Stage 4: No treatment, 100% fatal
This is around a Stage 4

7.  http://www.lpch.org/DiseaseHealt
hInfo/HealthLibrary/oncology/hep
ato.html
 Prior Knowledge
 Information from doctors
 Parent’s knowledge