Oncologic emergency in patients with skeletal metastasis of unknown primary

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) most commonly presents with abdominal pain or mass, fever of unknown etiology, weight loss, and decompensation of known liver disease or at an asymptomatic stage through surveillance. Rarely, presenting symptoms can be exclusively related to extrahepatic metastases. Herein, we write a case of a patient with no known liver disease, presenting with a pathological fracture of the proximal humerus bone secondary to a massive solitary metastasis from HCC. This case represents an unusual appendicular skeletal metastasis in a patient with unknown primary HCC, successfully treated with sorafenib. The prognosis of HCC patients with extrahepatic metastasis is poor, and in the presence of bone metastases, the mean survival rate is severely reduced. However, the multikinase inhibitor sorafenib has been the standard of treatment. Recently, there has been developments of other therapeutic class of drugs (i.e., immune check inhibitors), which have shown promising benefits and better side effect profiles. Still, there is a need for further studies, owing to challenges in recognizing cellular and molecular markers.

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Prevalence of Known and Unknown Primary Tumor Sites In Spinal Metastasis Patients

The Open Orthopaedics Journal ◽

10.2174/1874325001206010440 ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 6 (1) ◽

pp. 440-444 ◽

Cited By ~ 10

Author(s):

Permsak Paholpak ◽

Winai Sirichativapee ◽

Taweechok Wisanuyotin ◽

Weerachai Kosuwon ◽

Polasak Jeeravipoolvarn

Keyword(s):

Survival Analysis ◽

Primary Tumor ◽

Spinal Metastasis ◽

Skeletal Metastasis ◽

Primary Carcinoma ◽

Unknown Primary ◽

Common Site ◽

Visceral Metastasis ◽

Factors Associated ◽

The Mean

Study Design: A retrospective study. Objectives: Three objectives have been designated for this study: (1) to determine the prevalence of identifiable and non-identifiable primary tumor sites in patients with spinal metastasis, (2) to identify the most common site of the known primary tumor sites, and (3) to identify the factors associated with survival time. Summary of Background Data: The spine is the third most common metastatic site for several primary visceral carcinomas. The primary tumor site could not be identified in 15% to 20% of patients who had been diagnosed of with a skeletal metastasis. Most of the previous studies on skeletal metastasis have not been limited to spinal metastasis alone. Methods: Between January 2007 and July 2011 reviews were done for 82 patients with spinal metastasis who had not received a previous diagnosis of carcinoma. The assessment parameters included the following: general demographic data, Karnofsky score, Frankel score, number of spinal vertebra affected, region of the spine affected by metastasis, other skeletal metastasis site, visceral metastasis, known or unknown primary sites of metastasis, histological cell type of metastasis, and the survival period. The log-rank test and Cox proportional hazard model were used to study the survival analysis. Results: Of the 82 patients included in the study, 56 were male. The mean age was 57 years. 86.6% had a known primary carcinoma site while the remaining 13.4% had none. The two most common known carcinoma sites were the lung and biliary systems. Among the 11 unknown primary sites, the most common histological finding was adenocarcinoma. The mean survival period was 8.7 ± 11.7 months. The survival analysis revealed two statistically significant factors: the primary tumor site’s aggressiveness (P<0.005) and the presence of visceral metastasis (P<0.05). Conclusion: The prevalence of identifiable primary site was 86.6% and the most common site was the lungs followed by the biliary system. The primary carcinoma site’s aggressiveness and the presence of visceral metastasis were the factors associated with patient survival.

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