title: Lymph node metastasis diagnosed by EUS-FNA in four cases with hepatocellular carcinoma.
abstract: Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) rarely accompanies lymph node (LN) metastasis. As lymphadenopathy is observed in a variety of diseases, definitive diagnosis of metastasis of HCC is difficult without histological evidence. This report presented four cases of HCC associated with LN metastasis diagnosed using endoscopic ultrasound-guided fine-needle aspiration (EUS-FNA) and analyzed characteristics of CT image and histology of metastatic nodes. In current cases, metastatic nodes commonly demonstrated ill-enhanced masses with marginal enhancement on computed tomography (CT). Before FNA, nodal lymphoma or metastasis from the unknown origin tumor had been also suspected, but histology of the aspirated nodal tissues all demonstrated poorly differentiated HCC. No complication was recognized during and after FNA procedures. EUS-FNA is thought to be a safe and effective modality for obtaining histological evidence of lymphadenopathy in cases with HCC.
authors.affiliation: Division of Endoscopy, Shizuoka Cancer Center, 1007 Shimonagakubo, Nagaizumi, Suntogun, Shizuoka, Japan.
authors.forename: Hirokazu
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Kimura
authors.forename: Hiroyuki
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Matsubayashi
authors.forename: Akira
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Fukutomi
authors.forename: Koiku
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Asakura
authors.forename: Keiko
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Sasaki
authors.forename: Yuichiro
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Yamaguchi
authors.forename: Hiroyuki
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Ono
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D044963:Biopsy, Fine-Needle; D006528:Carcinoma, Hepatocellular / Q000473:pathology* / Q000556:secondary*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008113:Liver Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology*; D008207:Lymphatic Metastasis; D008297:Male