Initial presentation of hepatocellular carcinoma as soft tissue swelling of the forearm: A rare cytomorphological diagnosis.

Bone is quite an uncommon site of metastasis in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). We report a rare case of HCC presenting as a rapidly progressive painful soft tissue swelling with isolated metastasis to the radius bone of right forearm. The present article emphasizes the point that HCC should be considered in the differential diagnosis of patients presenting with palpable soft tissue swelling with destruction of the underlying bone. Fine-needle aspiration cytology (FNAC) of the soft tissue mass revealed cytomorphological features of HCC. The primary tumor of the liver was diagnosed retrospectively, following FNAC of the osteolytic lesion in the right radius bone, which revealed HCC.