Metastaza hepatocelularnog karcinoma u sakrum – jedina manifestacija bolesti

Aim: Rare patients with advanced hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) exclusively present with symptoms of distant metastasis. If there is no histological confirmation of the disease from liver tissue sample, extrahepatic lesion biopsy can confirm or exclude clinical suspicion. Case report: A 57-year-old male with long history of hepatitis C infection underwent computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance (MR) imaging which revealed nodular liver rearrangement with thrombosis of the right portal vein branch. Large intrahepatic HCC with vascular invasion was suspected, although without clear demarcation on imaging or histological verification. Only severe cirrhosis was found in several biopsy specimens. Since the patient suffered from simultaneous chronic lower back pain, and paresthesia with incontinence emerged, he underwent pelvic MR which demonstrated osteolitic destruction and large soft tissue mass in the sacrum. CT-guided biopsy confirmed HCC metastasis. Supraselective embolization of irrigating lateral sacral arteries was performed. Conclusion: Diagnosis of HCC sometimes can be challenging despite diagnostic procedures performed in accordance with current guidelines. In our patient sacral lesion was the only detectable metastasis of HCC and the target for histological confirmation of the disease. In patient with clinical suspicion on HCC but without histological confirmation from liver tissue, detection and biopsy of distant metastases is the only way to diagnose the disease.