A Case of Solitary Lymph Node Metastasis of Hepatocellular Carcinoma after Hepatic Resection

Shintaro Kodai¹⁾²⁾, Takahiro Uenishi¹⁾²⁾, Tsuyoshi Ichikawa¹⁾, Osamu Yamazaki²⁾, Mitsuharu Matsuyama²⁾, Katsuhiko Horii²⁾, Sadatoshi Shimizu²⁾, Yutaka Tamamori²⁾, Masayuki Higashino²⁾ and Shoji Kubo¹⁾

Department of Hepato-Biliarly-Pancratic-Surgery, Graduate School of Medicine, Osaka City University¹⁾
Department of Gastrointestinal Surgery, Osaka City General Hospital²⁾

The presence of lymph node metastasis is rarely shown in surgical patients with hepatocellular carcinoma. A 58-year-old man who has undergone hepatic resection twice for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and admitted to our hospital was found. During follow-up and abdominal computed tomography (CT) to have a low-density lesion 4 cm in diameter in the caudate lobe. Angiography showed tumor staining fed by the left gastric artery and middle hepatic artery. The lesion was diagnosed during the surgery as lymphadenopathy in front of the common hepatic artery, we resected the lymph node. Histological examination showed lymph node metastasis of HCC. The patient remains alive without sign of tumor recurrence 30 months after surgery. Resection for lymph node metastasis from HCC is thus effective, when the metastatic lymph node is solitary and when the primary lesion is controlled.

Key words
solitary lymph node metastasis, hepatocellular carcinoma, hepatic resection

Reprint requests
Shintaro Kodai Department of Hepato-Biliarly-Pancreatic Surgery, Graduate School of Medicine, Osaka City University
1-4-3 Asahimachi, Abeno-ku, Osaka, 545-8585 JAPAN

Accepted
May 31, 2006

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