Hepatoma with cardiac metastasis: an advanced cancer requiring advanced treatment.

Aim: To investigate the clinical and pathologic findings, and to discuss the pathophysiology of hepatocellular carcinoma with cardiac metastasis.

Methods: Eight hepatoma patients with cardiac metastasis, who were treated by surgical excision from 1993 to 2006, were retrospectively studied. Detailed clinical parameters were analyzed.

Results: Of those eight patients, two (25%) were women and six (75%) were men, with the mean age of 50 years (range, 40-70 years). The presentations included: asymptomatic (75%), heart failure (25%), and pulmonary embolism (12.5%). All lesions involved the right atrium, and extended to the lung (12.5%), inferior vena cava (25%), and left atrium (12.5%). The level of tumor marker, alpha-fetal protein, was not correlated with the severity of metastasis or disease prognosis. Moreover, the availably estimated doubling time was less than 3 mo. The pathological findings included variable hemorrhage and necrosis. The survival time following surgery also varied from one month to more than 30 mo.

Conclusion: Hepatoma metastasis to the heart was detected in all eight patients. This study demonstrates that surgery might help the outcome in such cases.