Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: UMLS:C0018681 (headache)
 56,091 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Two cases of hepatocellular carcinoma, with metastases to the skull base, pituitary gland, sphenoid sinus, and cavernous sinus are reported. Patients presented with diplopia, retro-orbital headache, and multiple cranial nerves palsies. Pituitary metastases may require surgery as palliative treatment, and for the confirmation of histology. One of the current cases was diagnosed with hepatocellular carcinoma prior to transphenoidal resection of the pituitary metastasis. The second patient was found to have hepatocellular carcinoma after review of histology, and the development of signs and symptoms relating to the primary tumour.
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PMID:Hepatocellular carcinoma with metastasis to the skull base, pituitary gland, sphenoid sinus, and cavernous sinus. 1186 94

Symptomatic pituitary metastases are uncommon and have been reported mainly in autopsy series. Although all types of malignancies can metastasize to the pituitary gland, a review of the literature has indicated that lung and breast carcinomas are the most frequent primary tumors while hepatocellular carcinoma metastasis has only recently been described. A 59-year-old man with abdominal pain and fever was admitted to our hospital. Hepatosplenomegaly was present without signs of ascites. Laboratory tests showed only abnormal hepatic biochemistry while the radiological studies revealed a solid mass occupying the left hepatic lobe. The patient underwent excision of the left hepatic lobe and was closely followed-up. Six months later he readmitted with headache and visual disturbances. MRI revealed a solid mass in the sella region pressing the optic chiasma. Transsphenoidal excision of the pituitary mass was followed and the histological examination of the tumor was compatible with hepatocellular carcinoma. Symptomatic pituitary metastases are uncommon and may be difficult to differentiate from pituitary adenomas. The present case emphasizes on the capricious nature of hepatocellular carcinoma and on the importance of the individualized therapeutic approach.
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PMID:Hepatocellular carcinoma metastasis in the pituitary gland: case report and review of the literature. 1282 21

Tumors metastatic to the pituitary gland are an unusual complication of systemic cancer typically seen in elderly patients with diffuse malignant disease. Breast and lung are the commonest sites of the primary tumor, whereas diabetes insipidus is the most frequent symptom at presentation. Their rarity and usually indolent course, as well as the lack of specific clinical and radiological features, impede their differentiation from other more common sellar area lesions, particularly when history of malignancy is absent. Management of these patients may also be very difficult because the prognosis depends on the course of the primary neoplasm. A 68-yr-old man, with no history of malignancy, presented with recent onset of hypopituitarism, mild diabetes insipidus, headaches, left oculomotor nerve palsy, and progressive bilateral deterioration of visual acuity and visual fields. Magnetic resonance imaging revealed a large sellar mass compressing the optic chiasm and invading the left cavernous sinus, whereas a prolactin elevation at 438.6 ng/ml (19.73 nmol/liter) was noted. Decompression of the sellar region was attempted, and pathology disclosed a metastatic hepatocellular carcinoma. On postoperative investigation, primary liver tumor was identified and confirmed by biopsy. The patient improved transiently but died 3 months after diagnosis because of deterioration of the liver disease. The relevant literature is reviewed in light of this unusual case, illustrating the problems in the diagnosis and management of patients with metastasis to the pituitary.
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PMID:Tumors metastatic to the pituitary gland: case report and literature review. 1476 64

Pituitary metastases account for about 1% of operated pituitary lesions. Most derive from primaries in the breast or lung. Pituitary metastases from hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) have rarely been reported. We describe a patient in whom headache and left external ophthalmoplegia were the only presenting signs of a clinically silent and radiographically undetectable HCC, that had metastasized to the pituitary and both adrenal glands. Pituitary histology and adrenal needle biopsy failed to establish the final diagnosis, which was reached only after surgical exploration of the abdomen. This case illustrates the difficulties encountered in the histopathological diagnosis of pituitary metastasis and the need for good clinical judgment when confronting pituitary tumors with atypical features.
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PMID:Pituitary and bilateral adrenal enlargement: an unusual presentation of hepatocellular carcinoma. 1607 30

A 34-year old man with a past history of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) complained of headache and visual disturbance. Neuroimaging revealed a right occipital haematoma with rim enhancement and at operation, a metastasis from the primary malignancy was found. Five months after surgery and subsequent adjuvant therapy, he presented with blindness. On neuroimaging, a left occipital haematoma was seen. The patient refused surgical intervention. HCC usually has an aggressive clinical course; therefore, recurrent cerebral metastasis is an uncommon clinical problem. "Mirror-image" metastasis, with bleeding in both hemispheres, is rare and has not been reported. We suggest that these metastases occur due to microscopic seeding via an arterial route, and that spread via a venous route, such as occurs through Batson's plexus, is unlikely.
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PMID:Recurrent metastatic hepatocellular carcinoma presenting as consecutive "mirror image" intracerebral haematomas. 1611 54

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) metastasizes to the brain is rare instances. In published series and case reports of metastatic HCC, diagnosis of central nervous system metastases has been determined by histologic methods. We present a case of metastatic HCC of brain diagnosed by squash cytologic preparation. A 69-year-old male, HCV positive, suffering from post-hepatitic cirrhosis, initially diagnosed at age 68 with HCC presented with headaches of increasing frequency and severity. A computed tomography scan confirmed a 3-cm nodule in the right parietal lobe of the brain. Squash cytology was performed intraoperatively and preparations of a small tissue fragment resected from the mass showed medium-to-large-sized, well-cohesive clusters or sheets of uniform tumor cells. The tumor cells are highly cellular and contain solitary tumor cells in loose groupings as well as many fragments. They also appear somewhat bizarre and contain large, round, or ovoid nuclei with prominent nucleoli. Cytologic diagnosis of metastatic HCC was rendered reported and confirmed by a subsequent frozen section examination. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first reported case in which HCC was reported as brain metastasis, by using squash cytology. We suggest that intraoperative squash cytologic examination be viewed as a useful initial approach in the diagnosis of metastatic brain tumor.
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PMID:Cytologic diagnosis of brain metastasis from hepatocellular carcinoma by squash preparation. 1647 Aug 67

Smoking causes a variety of adverse effects on organs that have no direct contact with the smoke itself such as the liver. It induces three major adverse effects on the liver: direct or indirect toxic effects, immunological effects and oncogenic effects. Smoking yields chemical substances with cytotoxic potential which increase necro-inflammation and fibrosis. In addition, smoking increases the production of pro-inflammatory cytokines (IL-1, IL-6 and TNF- alpha) that would be involved in liver cell injury. It contributes to the development of secondary polycythemia and in turn to increased red cell mass and turnover which might be a contributing factor to secondary iron overload disease promoting oxidative stress of hepatocytes. Increased red cell mass and turnover are associated with increased purine catabolism which promotes excessive production of uric acid. Smoking affects both cell-mediated and humoral immune responses by blocking lymphocyte proliferation and inducing apoptosis of lymphocytes. Smoking also increases serum and hepatic iron which induce oxidative stress and lipid peroxidation that lead to activation of stellate cells and development of fibrosis. Smoking yields chemicals with oncogenic potential that increase the risk of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) in patients with viral hepatitis and are independent of viral infection as well. Tobacco smoking has been associated with suppression of p53 (tumour suppressor gene). In addition, smoking causes suppression of T-cell responses and is associated with decreased surveillance for tumour cells. Moreover, it has been reported that heavy smoking affects the sustained virological response to interferon (IFN) therapy in hepatitis C patients which can be improved by repeated phlebotomy. Smoker's syndrome is a clinico-pathological condition where patients complain of episodes of facial flushing, warmth of the palms and soles of feet, throbbing headache, fullness in the head, dizziness, lethargy, prickling sensation, pruritus and arthralgia.
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PMID:Heavy smoking and liver. 1703 78

To analyze the clinical features of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) in patients with signs and symptoms of nervous system involvement as the initial presentation. Over a period of 11 years (January 1993 to December 2003), 15,008 HCC patients were identified at the Chang Gung Memorial Hospital in Kaohsiung, Taiwan. Amongst them, 42 cases had nervous system involvement, of which six had nervous system involvement as their initial presentation. These six cases were enrolled in this study and their clinical and laboratory data were analyzed. The clinical features of the other 36 HCC cases with nervous system involvement were also analyzed for comparison. The six cases were all males, aged 36-68 years old. The involved parts of the nervous system were the cerebellar hemisphere (one), the frontal lobe (one), the sphenoid sinus, sellar turcica, and cavernous sinus (one), the cervical spine (one), and the thoracic spine (two). Their corresponding neurologic presentations were back pain, headache, consciousness disturbance, visual disturbance, and limb weakness. Whilst three out of six patients presenting with nervous system manifestations were found to have concurrent systemic metastases in other expected sites (lung, bone), three had isolated nervous system involvement even after extensive work up. The associated medical conditions of the six cases included hepatitis B (three), hepatitis C (one), liver cirrhosis (two), portal vein thrombosis (three), and diabetes mellitus (two). All the six died within 9 months after the detection of nervous system involvement. The prevalence of nervous system involvement in HCC patients is 0.28% (42/15,088), with 0.04% (6/15,088) having this as their initial presentation. The prognosis of HCC with nervous system involvement is grave. Their clinical and laboratory data are not unique but the diagnosis could only be confirmed by hepatic and nervous system imaging studies, histopathologic examination, and serum alpha-fetoprotein detection. This consideration should be emphasized especially in areas that are hyperendemic for HCC and if the original focus of metastatic lesion is obscure.
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PMID:Hepatocellular carcinoma presenting as nervous system involvement. 1738 89

We first report a rare case of metastasis from gastric hepatoid adenocarcinoma (HAC) to cerebral parenchyma, in a 50-year-old Chinese patient. He complained of a one-month history of a paroxysm of headache in the left temple and pars parietalis accompanied with binocular caligation caligo, insensible feeling of limbs and transient anepia. Magnetic resonance (MR) imaging revealed a spherical occupying lesion in the left posterior-temple lobe which was clinically diagnosed as a metastatic tumor. Three years ago, the patient accepted total gastrectomy as he was pathologically diagnosed at gastroscopy having an adenocarcinoma. Eight months after gastrectomy, the occupying lesion in liver was detected by ultrasound and CT, and he accepted transcatheter arterial embolization. Before operation of the brain metastasis, no obvious abnormality was found in liver by ultrasound. Histopathological characteristics of the brain tumor were identical to those of stomach tumor. The growth pattern of both tumors showed solid cell nests. The tumor cells were polygonal, and had abundant eosinophilic cytoplasm and round nuclei with obvious nucleoli. Sinusoid-like blood spaces were located between nodular tumor cells. Immunohistochemistry-stained tumor cells were positive for AFP and negative for Hep-Par-1. According to these histopathological findings, both tumors were diagnosed as HAC and metastatic HAC. The patient remained alive 16 mo after tumorectomy of the cerebral metastasis. The differential diagnosis of brain metastasis from metastatic tumors should use a panel of antibodies to avoid confusing with the brain metastasis of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). This paper describes this rare case of metastasis from gastric hepatoid adenocarcinoma to cerebral parenchyma, and provides a review of the literature concerning its histopathological and immunohistochemical characteristics.
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PMID:Cerebral metastasis from hepatoid adenocarcinoma of the stomach. 1796 12

Sirolimus (SRL) is an mTOR inhibitor that has been shown, in contrast to calcineurin inhibitors (CNI), to inhibit cancers in experimental models. Since February 2005, we introduced SRL in liver transplant patients in group a, in whom the primary disease was hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) associated with hepatitis B virus (HBV), hepatitis C virus (HCV), alcoholic or autoimmune liver cirrhosis, and group b, HCC-negative patients who developed posttransplantation cancers de novo. Of 18 patients in group a, 11 received SRL ab initio (subgroup a1), starting for 10 patients at 66.1+/-29.2 days after surgical healing and after 10 days in 1 case; the remaining 7 patients (subgroup a2) received SRL at 31.2+/-24.2 months. Three patients in group b, included 1 with Kaposi's sarcoma, 1 with bladder cancer, and 1 with thyroid cancer. In this group, SRL was introduced at 80.8+/-40.4 months. In all patients but one, who received a single 5 mg loading dose, SRL was started at 2 mg/d and adjusted to 6 to 8 ng/mL blood levels. CNI drugs, present as primary therapy, were gradually tapered to low levels and eventually stopped. The following observations were drawn from this initial experience: (1) 4/21 (19.0%) patients had to discontinue SRL because of early and late side effects: thrombocytopenia (n=2) and headache with leukopenia and leg edema associated with knee joint arthralgia (n=2); (2) 14 patients (11 in group a and 3 in group b) are still on SRL monotherapy; (3) 1 HCC recurrence and 1 de novo pancreatic adenocarcinoma were observed at 14 and 16 months, respectively (at the time of transplantation, both patients were beyond the MIlan HCC criteria), and (4) 1 patient, from subgroup a1, died after 99 days due to pneumonitis and possible relation to SRL lung toxicity. In conclusion, SRL appeared to be an effective immunosuppressant that could be used as monotherapy in liver transplant patients. Any conclusion on SRL anticancer effects can only come from randomized large studies after long follow-up.
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PMID:Sirolimus therapy in liver transplant patients: an initial experience at a single center. 1867 98


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