Metastatic hepatocellular carcinoma in the maxilla and mandible, an extremely rare presentation

Abstract

Malignancy is characterized by anaplasia, invasiveness, and metastasis. Primary oral squamous cell carcinoma is the most prevalent oral malignancy, but secondary malignancy from distant sites have also been reported. Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a common primary liver malignancy that frequently metastasizes during the course of the disease, but < 1% of cases show oral involvement. Such secondary neoplasms do not have any pathognomonic clinical or radiologic findings, and therefore they pose a diagnostic challenge. Hence, in the differential diagnosis of malignant tumors of the oral cavity, it is essential to consider the occurrence of both primary as well as metastatic tumors despite the low incidence of the latter. A rare case of HCC metastasizing to both the maxilla and mandible is presented, in which the patient succumbed to the disease as a result of the delay in diagnosis.

Keywords

• Hepatocellular carcinoma
• jaw metastasis
• secondary malignancies