title: Hepatocellular carcinoma with Pancoast's syndrome as an initial symptom: a case report.
abstract: Pancoast's syndrome refers to a condition consisting of Horner's syndrome and arm pain that is most commonly found in patients with a lung tumor of the superior sulcus invading the upper ribs or spine, lower brachial plexus and sympathetic chain. We report a 76-year-old female who had a thoracic inlet mass that presented as Pancoast's syndrome, showing profound pain, numbness and weakness of the left upper limb. Further evaluation revealed an increased level of serum alpha-fetoprotein (24278 ng/ml), cryptogenic liver cirrhosis and primary hepatocellular carcinoma with protruding T3 vertebra metastasis that resulted in Pancoast's syndrome. To our knowledge, it is a rare case and only one case has been reported previously.
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, Taipei Veterans General Hospital, National Yang-Ming University School of Medicine, Taiwan.
authors.forename: C F
authors.initials: CF
authors.lastname: Chang
authors.forename: W J
authors.initials: WJ
authors.lastname: Su
authors.forename: T Y
authors.initials: TY
authors.lastname: Chou
authors.forename: R P
authors.initials: RP
authors.lastname: Perng
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D006528:Carcinoma, Hepatocellular / Q000150:complications* / Q000556:secondary; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008113:Liver Neoplasms / Q000150:complications* / Q000473:pathology; D008175:Lung Neoplasms / Q000532:radiotherapy / Q000556:secondary; D010178:Pancoast Syndrome / Q000209:etiology*; D013125:Spinal Neoplasms / Q000532:radiotherapy / Q000556:secondary; D000509:alpha-Fetoproteins / Q000032:analysis
chemical_list: D000509:alpha-Fetoproteins