Hepatoblastoma

Hepatoblastoma is a very rare cancerous tumor that originates in you’re the child’s liver.

• The primary functions of the liver include filtering and storing blood, processing the food we eat and making vital proteins for the body to use. It has a right lobe and a left lobe.
• Most hepatoblastoma tumors grow in the right lobe.
• This disease primarily affects children from infancy to about five years of age.
• Most cases appear during the first 18 months of life.
• Hepatoblastoma cancer cells can spread (metastasize) to other areas of the body.
• The most common sites of metastasis are the lungs and the abdomen.

Pioneering research

Children's Hospital Cancer Care and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute are conducting numerous research studies that will help clinicians better understand and treat hepatoblastoma. For more information on what we’re doing to make life better for children with liver cancer, see our Research and Innovation page.