Fig. 1.

Spontaneous regression of a HCC with portal vein invasion. A 43-year-old woman with chronic hepatitis C and cirrhosis presented with a 5-cm mass in the liver (a) with an associated tumor thrombus in the main, right, and left portal veins (b) and an alpha-fetoprotein level of 1548 ng/mL, consistent with HCC. Over the next year, the mass and portal vein tumor thrombus spontaneously regressed and the alpha-fetoprotein level decreased to 30 ng/mL. Observation over a 6-year follow-up period revealed no evidence of tumor recurrence (c, d).