Long-term survival of a patient with advanced hepatoid type adenocarcinoma of stomach and liver metastasis

Hepatoid adenocarcinoma is a rare variant of gastric cancer, and exhibits most of the characteristics of alpha-fetoprotein-secreting cancer; it has been reported to have poor outcomes irrespective of the treatment used. Here, we report a case wherein a relatively favorable outcome was obtained following surgical treatment of metastatic hepatoid adenocarcinoma originated in the stomach, and discuss the treatment of the disease. Metastatic gastric cancer is considered a systemic disease; however, even with a worse prognosis of the hepatic variant type, we achieved long term survival following surgical resection of primary and metastatic tumor. This experience highlights the importance of using aggressive surgical treatments for potentially resectable metastatic gastric cancer, irrespective of the tumor variant.