Double primary hepatic cancer (sarcomatoid carcinoma and hepatocellular carcinoma): A case report

Abstract

Primary liver sarcomatoid carcinoma (SC) is a rare and aggressive tumor exhibiting rapid growth and a high recurrence rate following resection. To date, there have been no reports of primary liver SC occurring simultaneously with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). This is the case report of a 54-year-old man with liver cirrhosis due to hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection and alcoholic hepatitis. The abdominal computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging revealed two distinct hepatic masses in a background of hepatic cirrhosis and esophageal varices. Following a clinical diagnosis of two HCCs, a right hepatic lobectomy was performed. Grossly, two distinct lesions were identified: the larger mass was gray to white and well-demarcated, sized 2.5x2.0 cm, located in S5-6, whereas the other was a gray to whitish nodule, sized 1.3x1.0 cm, located in S8. The microscopic analysis revealed that the larger mass was a primary liver SC, which was immunoreactive for cytokeratin (CK) and vimentin (VMT) and negative for hepatocyte-specific antigen (HSA). The other nodule was histologically diagnosed as HCC, which was positive for HSA and CK and negative for HSA, VMT, CK7 and CK19. There was no transition or intermingling lesion between the two tumors. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first case report of double primary liver cancer comprising an SC and a HCC.