Well-differentiated hepatocellular carcinoma showing intrahepatic neural invasion: autopsied case

An autopsied case of well-differentiated hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), showing neural invasion into the portal tract of the liver, a hitherto undescribed lesion, is reported. The patient, a 68-year-old man, had had treatment for HCC over nine years, comprising surgical resection, transcatheter arterial embolization, transportal venous embolization and percutaneous ethanol injection to nodules of the HCC. At autopsy, many HCC nodules (less than 7 cm in diameter) were found in the liver. In one of them, carcinoma cells infiltrated the medium-sized protal tract among the regenerative nodules and some of these carcinoma cells further invaded nerve fibers. Although the majority of the HCC nodules showed ischemic necrosis, the infiltrating carcinoma cells in the portal tract were viable, suggesting the biological behavior and/or blood supply of these infiltrating carcinoma cells to be different.