Surgical treatment of hepatoblastoma in children

Hepatoblastoma is the most common liver malignancy in children. With rare exceptions, complete tumour resection is required to cure the patient. Radical tumour resection can be obtained either with standard partial hepatectomy or orthotopic liver transplantation. At present, the surgical approach to hepatoblastoma differs significantly between treatment groups in different parts of the world. Our aim was to review current surgical policy in hepatoblastoma. All aspects of surgery in hepatoblastoma are discussed, including biopsy, tumour resection principles, modern achievements in the field of liver surgery, and the indications and potential contraindications for liver transplantation. Every effort should be made to resect hepatoblastoma completely either by standard partial hepatectomy or by the use of liver transplantation in difficult or clearly unresectable cases.