Skull base metastasis as initial presentation of hepatocellular carcinoma

Intracranial metastatic deposits due to hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) are rare. Only a few cases are reported in the literature. These may be more likely to come to clinical attention than extrahepatic metastases in other sites since they often produce symptoms that necessitate neurosurgical intervention.

We report a case of a 53-year-old male with biopsy-proven intracranial skull base metastasis from HCC as an unusual initial presentation of the disease and review the relevant literature on this entity.

Intracranial metastasis of HCC should be included in the differential diagnosis of rapidly growing metastatic lesions in unusual locations, particularly in chronic liver disease and hepatitis B surface antigen-positive or hepatitis C patients.