Mediastinal Hepatocellular Carcinoma with Unknown Primary: An Unusual and Rare Presentation

• Main Authors: Koh, P.S., Yusof, M.M., Yoong, B.K., Rajadurai, P.
• Format: Article
• Published: Humana Press 2014
• Subjects: R Medicine
• Online Access: http://eprints.um.edu.my/12388/; http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs12029-013-9549-8; http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s12029-013-9549-8
• Institution: Universiti Malaya

This is an excerpt from the content Background Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a common cancer in Asia due to the high prevalence of hepatitis B and C infections in this region [1]. It often occurs in a cirrhotic liver as a sequalae of chronic hepatitis B and C infections as well as alcoholic liver or fatty liver disease. With improved treatment of HCC over the years, extrahepatic metastatic HCC are frequently reported, and its incidence is increasing [2]. Metastatic HCC has often been reported in common extrahepatic sites such as lungs, bones, lymph nodes and adrenals as a result of hematogenous or lymphatic spread as well as direct invasion of tumour tissue [3]. However, extrahepatic HCC presenting as a solitary mass is unusual when no primary liver tumour is detectable or identifiable. To our knowledge, there are numerous reports in the literature describing extrahepatic and metastatic HCC with no known primary occurring in various sites, but we report a rare case of mediastinal HCC with an unknown primary in a 46-yea ...