Case Reports in Gastroenterology (Apr 2015)

Diffuse Liver Metastasis of Small-Cell Lung Cancer Presenting as Acute Liver Failure and Diagnosed by Transjugular Liver Biopsy: A Rare Case in Whom Nodular Lesions Were Detected by Enhanced CT Examination

  • S. Mishima,
  • Y. Nozaki,
  • S. Mikami,
  • E. Kihira,
  • M. Iikura,
  • R. Koketsu,
  • H. Sugiyama,
  • T. Masuda,
  • H. Kaname,
  • Y. Egami,
  • T. Nakayama,
  • K. Hasuo,
  • H. Nakamura,
  • T. Igari,
  • K. Watanabe,
  • N. Nagata,
  • T. Sakurai,
  • C. Yokoi,
  • M. Kobayakawa,
  • Y. Kojima,
  • J. Akiyama,
  • M. Imamura,
  • N. Masaki,
  • M. Yanase

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1159/000381140
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 9, no. 1
pp. 81 – 87

Abstract

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Small-cell lung cancer (SCLC) is a subgroup of lung cancer with a high frequency of liver metastasis, which is a predictor of poor prognosis. Diffuse liver metastases of SCLC with no visible nodular lesions in the liver when examined using computed tomography (CT) are relatively rare; however, a few cases with rapid progression to acute liver failure that were diagnosed after death have been reported. In this paper, we report a 63-year-old man with diffuse liver metastases of SCLC that were histologically diagnosed using a transjugular liver biopsy while the patient was alive, even though no lesions were visible during a contrast-enhanced CT examination.

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