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©The Author(s) 2025. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Gastrointest Oncol. Dec 15, 2025; 17(12): 113341
Published online Dec 15, 2025. doi: 10.4251/wjgo.v17.i12.113341
Published online Dec 15, 2025. doi: 10.4251/wjgo.v17.i12.113341
Tumor calcification and sustained complete response after chemoembolization in hepatocellular carcinoma: Two case reports and review of literature
Sultan R Alharbi, Interventional Radiology Unit/Department of Radiology and Medical Imaging, College of Medicine, King Saud University, Riyadh 11362, Saudi Arabia
Author contributions: Alharbi SR designed the research study, performed the procedures, analyzed the data, wrote the manuscript, and approved the final version of the manuscript.
Informed consent statement: Informed written consent was obtained from the patients for publication of this report and any accompanying images.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The author declares that he has no conflicts of interest to disclosure.
CARE Checklist (2016) statement: The author has read the CARE Checklist (2016) and the manuscript was prepared and revised according to CARE Checklist (2016).
Open Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Sultan R Alharbi, MD, Associate Professor, Interventional Radiology Unit/Department of Radiology and Medical Imaging, College of Medicine, King Saud University, PO Box 7805, King Abdullah Street, Riyadh 11362, Saudi Arabia.
Received: August 22, 2025
Revised: September 22, 2025
Accepted: October 13, 2025
Published online: December 15, 2025
Processing time: 111 Days and 10.2 Hours
Revised: September 22, 2025
Accepted: October 13, 2025
Published online: December 15, 2025
Processing time: 111 Days and 10.2 Hours
Core Tip
Core Tip: Tumoral calcification following transarterial chemoembolization (TACE) for hepatocellular carcinoma is a rare imaging finding, and its clinical significance remains unclear. This case report describes 2 patients with large hepatocellular carcinoma who developed complete radiological response after drug-eluting beads TACE, followed by progressive peripheral calcification and sustained disease-free survival for 6 years. The notable association between post-TACE calcification and long-term remission raises the possibility that calcification may serve as a late imaging biomarker of effective tumor necrosis and durable treatment response.