[Acute hepatic failure as the presenting manifestation of a metastatic lung carcinoma to liver].
Liver failure as a result of neoplasia is a rare event before the terminal stage of the illness. We report a 66-year-old man who presented with clinical features of acute liver failure as the initial manifestation of a small-cell lung carcinoma. Liver was enlarged without ascitis. Abdominal CT-scan revealed a massive hepatomegaly with multiple low-density wedge-shaped lesions. The patient developed stage 3 hepatic encephalopathy and died on day 4. The diagnosis was obtained with post-mortem study. A Medline search of acute liver failure due to small-cell carcinoma identified only 17 cases already published, with a universally poor prognosis.
Richecoeur
M
M
Fédération de médecine-III, hôpital d'instruction des armées Clermont-Tonnerre, BP 41, Brest-Naval, France.
Massoure
M-P
MP
Le Coadou
G
G
Lipovac
A S
AS
Bronstein
J-A
JA
Delluc
C
C