Hepatocellular carcinoma as a complication of chronic Budd-Chiari syndrome (BCS) in a child.

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is an extremely rare long-term complication of Budd-Chiari syndrome (BCS) which may occur due to long-term venous congestion causing fibrosis, cirrhosis and subsequent hepatocellular dysplasia or anaplasia. This complication is even rarer in paediatric BCS and warrants early diagnosis for a favourable prognosis. Benign regenerative nodules seen with BCS are difficult to differentiate from malignant nodular lesion of HCC, thereby making serial imaging less sensitive for early diagnosis of HCC in BCS. Surveillance guidelines like adults do not exist in monitoring chronic paediatric BCS due to rarity of this complication. Six monthly serum alpha-fetoprotein monitoring in addition to radiological surveillance improves the sensitivity of early detection of HCC transformation in BCS and should be the way ahead in paediatric BCS as well. We describe a paediatric patient who presented with advanced HCC after 25-month follow-up for BCS.