Successful surgical management of pulmonary and adrenal metastases from hepatocellular carcinoma

Eur J Surg Oncol. 1991 Feb;17(1):84-90.

Abstract

This article reports a rare case of successful surgery for both lung and adrenal metastases after hepatic resection of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). A 55-year-old Japanese man with a 5-year history of chronic liver disease was admitted with an elevated serum alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) value and a liver tumour detected by ultrasonography. Hepatic angiogram showed a tumour stain with the right hepatic vein as a venous drain from the tumour. He underwent posterior-inferior subsegmentectomy of the right hepatic lobe following preoperative chemoembolization. Sixteen months after the first operation, he received pulmonary resection for a solitary metastasis in the right lung. A further 10 months later, a metastatic tumour was detected in the left adrenal gland without any recurrent or metastatic foci, and he underwent left adrenalectomy as his third operation. He is still alive, 8 months after his last operation, and 34 months after hepatic resection, with a normal value of AFP and without any recurrent or metastatic foci. This may be the first report of a patient who underwent successful surgery for pulmonary and adrenal metastases of HCC.

Publication types

  • Case Reports

MeSH terms

  • Adrenal Gland Neoplasms / secondary
  • Adrenal Gland Neoplasms / surgery*
  • Adrenalectomy
  • Carcinoma, Hepatocellular / secondary
  • Carcinoma, Hepatocellular / surgery*
  • Carcinoma, Hepatocellular / therapy
  • Combined Modality Therapy
  • Embolization, Therapeutic
  • Hepatectomy
  • Humans
  • Liver Neoplasms / pathology
  • Liver Neoplasms / surgery*
  • Lung Neoplasms / secondary
  • Lung Neoplasms / surgery*
  • Lung Neoplasms / therapy
  • Male
  • Middle Aged
  • Pneumonectomy