Encephaloradiculopathy: a non-metastatic complication of hepatocellular carcinoma

We describe a patient with a silent hepatocellular carcinoma in whom a progressive dysfunction developed in the brainstem, cerebrum, and cerebellum. This clinical manifestation was also associated with polyradiculopathy. The changes were microscopically unlike those seen in hepatic encephalopathy, progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy and other metabolic encephalopathy. The findings seem to have occurred as a paraneoplastic syndrome of the nervous system. Although in the present case, the cause-and-effect relationship between the hepatocellular carcinoma and the encephaloradiculopathy is only hypothetical, we suggest that the demyelinating process which involves both central and peripheral nervous system in our case resulted from interaction of tumor with the host-immunological mechanism. The neurological presentation in our case is unique and has never been reported before.