Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a rarely occurring disease in the pediatric population. We report our center's experience of management of HCC in children and adolescents.

From 1996 to 2012, 16 patients aged 18 or younger were diagnosed with HCC at our center. The medical records of these 16 patients were retrospectively reviewed.

There were 9 boys and 7 girls. Median age at diagnosis of HCC was 14.5 years. All patient had pathologically confirmed diagnosis of HCC. Three patients had distant metastasis at the time of HCC diagnosis. Eight patients were surgically managed, including 4 liver resections, 3 liver transplantations, and 1 intraoperative radiofrequency ablation. The remaining 8 patients received systemic chemotherapy. Overall, 6 patients are alive at median 63.6 months after diagnosis of HCC. All survivors were surgically managed patients.

HCC is a rare disease occurring in childhood. Patients with systemic disease have poor outcome. Liver transplantation may be a good option for treatment of pediatric HCC.