[A case of cranial metastasis of hepatocellular carcinoma]

A case of cranial metastasis of hepatocellular carcinoma is reported. A 77-year-old woman with an elastic hard tumor in the right temporal region was referred to our department on April 30, 1992. On admission, the patient had slight weakness of the left upper limb. Plain skull X-ray and computed tomography (CT) showed bone destruction in the right temporal region. Magnetic resonance images (MRI) showed that the tumor was hypo-intense with T1-sequences and hyper-intense with T2-sequences, and included hyper-intense spots on both T1- and T2-images. Right carotid angiography showed that the tumor was fed by the middle meningeal and accessory meningeal arteries. The patient became disoriented, and the left hemiparesis worsened on May 4, 1992. CT scan revealed an irregular high-density area in the tumor because of intratumoral hemorrhage. After embolization of the arteries feeding the tumor, surgery was performed on May 8, 1992, and the tumor was totally removed. Histological examination of the tumor specimen revealed that it was a metastatic hepatocellular carcinoma. The patient died 8 months after initial diagnosis because of hepatocellular carcinoma.