title: Bone metastases as the initial presentation of hepatocellular carcinoma. Two case reports and a literature review.
abstract: Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the most common primary tumor of the liver and is the fifth most common cancer in the world; its incidence has been increasing in recent years. Extrahepatic spread is present at the time of diagnosis in only about 5 to 15% of patients. Skeletal metastasis of HCC occurs less frequently compared with other cancers and is considered a rare primary form of presentation. We report two cases of unsuspected HCC presenting with multiple bone lesions as the initial presentation. The first patient was a 76-year-old man with symptoms of fatigue and back pain. The PET-CT revealed the hypercaptant bone lesions and a liver lesion. The pathology report showed that the metastases were positive for the hepatic marker HEPAR-1, indicating that they had originated from the HCC. The second patient was a 56-year-old man. He presented to the emergency department for right shoulder pain and weakness of the entire right arm with no history of trauma. During hospitalization, the patient became quadriplegic. MRI revealed osseous blastic lesions in the cervical vertebrae and right shoulder. A CT-guided biopsy was performed in the cervical lesion and showed poorly differentiated carcinoma. Immunohistochemistry staining was positive for HEPAR-1. In conclusion, this cases show an unusual presentation of HCC with skeletal metastasis.
authors.affiliation: Oncology center. Medica Sur Hospital. Mexico City, Mexico.
authors.forename: Jose M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Ruiz-Morales
authors.affiliation: Anatomical Pathology Department. Medica Sur Hospital. Mexico City, Mexico.
authors.forename: Rita
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Dorantes-Heredia
authors.affiliation: Anatomical Pathology Department. Medica Sur Hospital. Mexico City, Mexico.
authors.forename: Fredy
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Chable-Montero
authors.affiliation: Liver Unit. Medica Sur Clinic & Foundation. Mexico City. Mexico.
authors.forename: Sara
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Vazquez-Manjarrez
authors.affiliation: Liver Unit. Medica Sur Clinic & Foundation. Mexico City. Mexico.
authors.forename: Nahum
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Méndez-Sánchez
authors.affiliation: Oncology center. Medica Sur Hospital. Mexico City, Mexico.
authors.forename: Daniel
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Motola-Kuba
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D006528:Carcinoma, Hepatocellular / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000556:secondary*; D006801:Humans; D008113:Liver Neoplasms / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000473:pathology*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D064847:Multimodal Imaging; D049268:Positron-Emission Tomography; D013125:Spinal Neoplasms / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000556:secondary*; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed